Living a Lie
by Start-a-Riot
Summary: Itex doesn't need the Flock anymore. So what do they do? Erase their memories and send them off to fake families far away from each other. Bye-bye Flock. But the world needs saving-again. what happens when the Flock remembers who they really are?Fax!R&R!
1. Chapter 1

* * *

Disclaimer: Sadly, James Patterson owns everything Maximum Ride, but this idea is mine ) 

Damien( Fang):

The train screeched to a halt. A gurgled and barely audible message announced the next stop. People bustled about, squeezed in tighter, like sardines in a can. Luckily, I was one of the people getting off and out into the fresh air. My shoulders were killing me and my scars were practically burning my back. I needed to be outside, to see the blue sky and sun.

_Stupid public transportation, _I thought as I climbed the stairs out onto Union Street. At least the train I had to take was actually functional today.

The cold air was refreshing compared to the stuffiness of the subway tunnels and I rolled my shoulders, wincing at how tightly wound I was. Crowded places always had the same effect on me. My jaws clenched, body went rigid, and shoulders cramped. Paranoia would slowly creep up on me and I'd constantly glance over my shoulder. It was surprising that more people didn't call the cops on me, the way I looked and acted.

My cell phone started vibrating in my pocket and I glanced at the new text. Tally. I sighed. I was late, I knew that, but that girl needed to cut me some slack. It's not like I was actually her brother anyway, I was just as close to one as she'd get. And she never let me forget it.

1:17- almost 20 minutes late and the show was an hour long. School plays are the epitome of hell on earth. Overly-proud parents cheer on their talent-less kids as they stumble over three sentence lines. Plus, all the enclosed spaces, people jam packed into one auditorium.

But then again, it is NYC. Crowds are not to be avoided. Living here all my life had taught me that much at least. Among other things.

But as usual, some feeling of responsibility in me made me check the time again and pack on the speed. I practically ran down the busy streets, darting through traffic like a hummingbird between flowers. Fast for a kid my age, I knew I could make it to her school in five minutes and then there was the question of whether they'd still let me in or not.

I made a sharp left and slammed into a girl probably around my age and knocked over some street seller's cart. He yelled after me and my eyes had just enough time to wander up and down the body of the girl I had pretty much rammed to the floor.

\There just wasn't enough time in the day for girls or to apologize to angry old men.

Liv(Max):

"Hey!" Whoever said that New York City is the most polite city in the country is seriously mistaken. In the less than an hour that I'd been there I had been jostled, bumped, pushed and evidently groped by a very frisky old man but nobody else seemed to notice that little fact. Or care…

"Yo! Get back here! Hey, Punk! I better not see your ass around here again!" A man shouted as he stooped and gathered his strewn merchandise, knocked over by the same kid you had knocked into me. Well, at least someone else found it annoying.

"Come on, Liv! Keep up…" Aunt Kay was the reason- among other things- I was spending the next two months in New York. My parents called it tough love, I called it freedom.

Well, it wasn't entirely my fault I had been expelled from the high school back home- one year from graduating. So, I may have broken someone's arm and nose and cost the school thousands in court fees…. But I swear that boy had no right treating a girl like that, and that girl wasn't even me! How, I ask you, do you expel a girl for defending her fellow females? Sexist pigs…

I trailed behind Aunt Kay, watching her fiery red hair bounce up and down with each step. She looked just like my mom, same kind brown eyes and pale skin. Too bad I inherited all my traits from my dad.

My shoulders kept cramping up, like they always do in crowded places and I could feel my scars tingling. When I was little I apparently fell into a glass coffee table and as a sweet reminder of happy days, I have two long scars running between my shoulder blades. And people wonder why I hate wearing bathing suites and tank tops. I feel like I might die of over exposure.

"Naked cowboy coming up", Talk about over-exposure. "Time's Square tradition if you ask me" my aunt pointed out and sure enough… there really was a naked cowboy- not entirely naked but enough to leave the hint.

Left and right there were things to see, and I don't say that in the cheesy narrative tourist way, just in the girl from a small town in a big city way. I was waiting for my eyeballs to pop out of my skull and my jaw to drop of its hinges. Maybe I'll save that for the view from Aunt Kay's apartment.

We had just turned onto Broadway when I felt it… or them. Eyes digging into my skull. I whipped around but it was pointless. Spotting a creepy stalker in NYC was like looking for a firefly on the sun.

But I could still feel them. My shoulders cramped up even more and I rolled them to loosen the muscles. One good thing about living in the Midwest, I never felt trapped, like I did just then.

I started to sweat and my heart beat faster. Jitters took over and I jumped at every horn and shout. What was wrong with me? This never happened…. Or not since three years ago at that Christmas party for my mom's company. It was too clean in there, too sterile and florescent. She might as well have stuck me in a cage and I'd probably be happier.

Suddenly a firm hand grabbed my elbow, yanking me to a halt. I yelped and turned abruptly, way too close to the edge of hysteria for some freak's own good.

But when I got a look at just who that freak was…. Well let's just say that I know how Beauty felt when her Beast turned into a prince.

"Uh…." Wow… smooth, Liv. Why don't you drool on his shoulder while you're being all eloquent.

He was gorgeous, Abercrombie- no, better than Abercrombie and that is saying something. He was tall, tan, and toned with wavy dark hair that flipped at just the right spot above his dark green eyes. But as I looked into those eyes something clicked in my head, something I didn't recognize…..

I recognized _him_… Alarms went off in my head, not the fabled ones that meant you'd found "the one" but entirely different alarms. Blaring, dizzying danger signs….

Apparently, my mind was telling me that the god before may not be so heavenly. As I'd later find out… my mind was right.

* * *

Reviews would be cool! Meaning...REVIEWREVIEWREVIEW! And I'll get up more if ya'll like it. 

Just to clarify- The Flock got separated after their memories were erased. I changed their names because they were supposed to be normal and you can't exactly pull off a name like Fang, can you?

Those scars they all have are from where their wings used to be. Sad, I know, but again. How exactly can a normal kid go to a pool party with wings? Maybe a Halloween party….. but besides the point. They have different stories about how they got them, just to cover it up.

Anyway, I think that's it… the rest will pretty much explain itself. Sorry if it was kind of confusing at first. It made sense in my head, but that's not saying much!


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks for the reviews and advice. Totally appreciated.

James P. Owns.

Liv ( Max)

"Come support our cause" Mr. Pretty Danger said as he pressed a flier into my stunned and shaking hand. I made myself glance down.

"STOP ANIMAL TESTING!" It read in big, bold red letters with tons of pictures of animals in cages and test tubes. I felt anger well up inside me. Something about those cages and crates, the needles and white coats set my teeth on edge.

"Olivia!" I jumped and Mr. Pretty Danger let go of my arm, quickly turning on his heel at the sight of my anxious Aunt. "Don't you ever do that again! I turned around and you were just gone! Nearly had a heart attack in the middle of the street"

I couldn't understand why she was having a heartattack. Kids younger than me walk around here alone all the time, I stop for one second and she acts as though someone could have kidnapped me... or worse!What next? Did she want me to hold her hand? I love my Aunt Kay, but sometimes I still think she sees me as a seven year old girl on her first trip to the city. I'd have her know I was sixteen and this was my _second_ trip to the Big Apple.

"Sorry, but this guy jus-"She glanced over my shoulder and I saw something flicker in her eyes, a panic that sent a shiver down my spine.

Grabbing my elbow just like the Flier Model, she practically dragged me closer to the entrance of the underground subway platform – the whole time glancing nervously over my shoulder as if checking for some hidden danger…. And it got me checking too.

Aiden(Iggy):

Something was…. Different. The air was slightly altered and I couldn't quite figure it out….

"Ow!" Damn it! I hopped around, clutching my stubbed toe and flopped down on that difference.

"Who moved the furniture again?!" For a blind guy, I'm pretty good at making my way around without a stick or a dog, but there's that occasional day when- hey! My family just forgets that I'm blind and shifts the whole house around without informing me. Can you feel the love?

The light footsteps with the slight spring to them told me that my younger sister Becka was coming down the hall. I rolled my eyes at the sound of her. She was never without her iPod or cell phone, the faint but steady beat and tapping normal.

"Oh… yeah, I think Dad's in one of his…. Fung-shui moods again. Wait till you get to the garage" The fridge door opened and closed and a minute later, Becka sat down next to me and turned on the t.v.

Sighing, I stood and headed for my bedroom. No point in listening to something you can't visualize. Wood creaked and I listened for the familiar- _click_. My bedroom door swung open when my foot hit the right spot in the hard wood floors.

I rolled my shoulders- a nervous habit- closed my door and sank onto my messy bed.

_Gotta remind Dad to get me those starter cables…._

_I wonder when Mom will have the laundry done…_

_Where can I buy old fashioned gun powder? The mall?..._

_I wish I could _see_ what color my room is._

I opened my eyes even though it wouldn't make a difference and wondered for the billionth time what it would be like to actually see. Colors, faces, rain, the sun…but most of all the sky oddly enough. Clouds and the blue color the sky gets from reflecting the ocean.

People always ask me what it's like to be blind which is just stupid. Close your eyes I always say and they laugh at the little blind kids joke. Partly cause A) they feel bad and B) they don't know what else to say. Anyone can know what it's like to be blind and always in the dark, but me? I'll never open my eyes one day and finally see the world around me. Just feel, hear, smell…

When I was like five, I used to think I could see things, images flickering in the corner of my eye, just out of reach from full sight. That's how I got my scars. Dad says I started rambling about how I could see it, how I _knew_ I could see it- it being a starter kit firework- and fell. Far. 15 hours of extensive emergency surgery and an upper body cast later I had two steel plates between my shoulder blades to re-align my spine and two very nasty scars that have repeatedly gotten me out of gym.

_It's not like they actually let me do anything in gym but keep score and stuff, _I thought.

All that doesn't matter though. Not as of Friday. In three days I would be miles away in a new city, waiting to register in a new school with whole new opportunities to prove to people that I can do what they do….

And hopefully they mean it when they say that New York is the city that never sleeps, cause neither do I.

* * *

Sorry these are so short, they'll get longer and I can get up chapter three in a day or two. Anyway, to answer some questions... I'm gonna give the flock their wings back, don't how yet, but I'm going to so.. yay! Umm... how did they get captured? I hadn't really thought about that yet- there'll be an explanation when they get their memories back- so for now... it's a mystery!

Also, though they are all spread around the country in the beginning, they are tied together through their "parents"- who all work for Itex and the school. It's sort of focused around New York for now cause that's the place I know best. So, again, sorry if it's confusing and I'm rushing through stuff. It'll get better. I promise. and the guy who bumped into Max in the first chapter is Fang. Wow.. that was a lot.


	3. Chapter 3

Liv(Max):

For the fifth night in a row since arriving in New York, I couldn't sleep. Maybe it was the water, but my dreams had stopped making sense. Not that dreams are supposed to be straight forward exactly, but mine were wacko by any standards.

Every night, swirls of colors and images, jumbled words and letters. I couldn't make sense of any of it. Sometimes more distinct images would pop up, like the feathers falling. That was one of the only things I could remember when I woke up. Long, brown feathers tumbling silently to the ground.

And I'd wake up with a feeling of longing to return to the dream. To pick up those feathers.

I sat up in bed, listening to the sounds of the city outside. The clock read 3 a.m. and it was December, but the party never stops. The City really does never sleep. Which is totally mind-blowing to me cause I do love my sleep. Unfortunately, I hadn't been getting a lot of it.

Some weird stuff had happened since my train pulled up in Grand Central station. First of which being my run-in with the Animal-Rights-activist-who-should-have-been-a-supermodel. Just thinking about his eyes, so dead and cold, made me shiver. And I was constantly thinking about them, some nagging feeling keeping me up late. Besides that, certain places in this city bring up odd images. They feel like memories… but not my own. Somebody else's.

When a flock of pigeons takes off in the park, the sound of their wings fluttering sparks a wave of pain between my shoulder blades. The big library on 59th and Madison always pulled me up its big marble steps, and I never go into libraries. A couple days ago, Aunt Kaye took me for a walk in Central Park and I swore I could hear music but there wasn't a stage anywhere or anyone playing their own homemade instruments.(A/N- remember in the Angel Experiment, when they first got to NY? That concert in the park and the library they went to- though I made up the address for it)

I'm not one for emotions and all that stuff, but in all those times, my throat would close up and an insane homesickness would take over. I felt kind of bad, Aunt Kaye blamed it on herself thinking I wasn't having fun; I couldn't do anything to stop it.

I sighed as a horn blared down on the street. The next few days would be a break from all that, hopefully. My mom's company, Itex, was holding it's annual Confederate's Ball, every one even remotely connected to it making a "grand entrance". And since Mom is the President of Itex, I am required to go….

Oh joy. I just hope they don't make me dance.

Chris(The Gasman):

_Maybe I could use chlorine… nah, Dad would never buy me chlorine… maybe Nanny would. Yeah that'd wor-_

"Chris?..." My bedroom creaked open a little bit and my sister's blonde head peaked through. Right in the middle of planning for my surprise…

_Good thing she can't read minds._

"Yeah?" I shut off the flashlight and shoved my blueprints under my pillow. What did she want at… 3 o'clock in the morning? She probably just got freaked out in the new apartment we had to move into while Dad was running for mayor.

She crept into the room, closed the door and crawled onto my bed. Izzy-short for Isabella- wasn't afraid of the dark, though most eight year old kids are I guess. I wasn't, but then again I was never afraid of much, just like… bugs and stuff. But whatever, that's not important.

"Can I sleep in here? I had a nightmare" My little sister's a cute kid, I guess. Not as cute as I was when I was eight, but a close second. Having two adorable kids really helped my dad in the polls apparently. Blond hair and blue eyes, always dressed in a suit and a dress. I though it was kind of children of corn- ish, but it worked.

_Just wait… this whole election will end with a bang! And pretty colors for the kids._

I sighed and nodded. She slipped under the covers next to me and rested her head on my shoulder. My plan was to build a huge firework and when they announced the winner- BOOM! Grand finale. Now… if I could just get my hands on some chlorine….

"Chris?"

"Ugh… yes?!" I snapped and regretted it. I never really got mad at Izzy, she got this look on her face that could make Satan feel guilty.

" Is it me…. Or does this whole thing feel weird? The election I mean? Like… it's too easy for Daddy I mean" She said, her eyes wide and earnest.

I thought about it for a second and said " It's you, Iz" But I knew what she meant. My dad had just breezed through the election, winning every debate, charming even the most stubborn people. Maybe he just had a way with words…. Or it was something else!

_Too many sci-fi books, man… gotta limit that to like two a week._

"Just go to sleep… you gotta get your beauty sleep for tomorrow, right?" Another day of speeches and old guys in suits. And mint jelly. Yech.


	4. Chapter 4

Liv(Max)

"Liv…if we are late your mother will kill me" One small price to pay for my dignity.

I stared at my self in the mirror and wished I could recognize the girl staring back at me. All I saw though was a washed out doll that had a frown painted on instead of a smile.

_I am never showing my face in public again…_ I thought, pulling at the pink dress and curls.

Pink and curls. Two words that should never be used in the same sentence. Least of all when they are attached to me.

Aunt Kaye pounded on the door making me flinch. My head was throbbing from lack of sleep, I could barely keep my eyes open without four Redbulls. Those strange dreams I was having were getting weirder. No more words or colors, just faces. Faces all around me, staring. I got goose bumps just thinking about all those eyes.

It was cold out on the street, which sucked more than usual because the cab drivers were on strike. Again. Apparently it happens a few times every couple years. Don't you think the big guy on top would get the hint?

"Rainbow Room" Aunt Kaye told the cabbie and we plunged into traffic. My understanding of the Rainbow Room was this:

A bunch of brightly colored, obnoxious people in a stuffy room that would make leprechauns want to wear all black… or drop dead.

My shoulders were already sore.

Damien(Fang):

"Hold still Day… you don't want to look like an idiot who can't put on a tie, do you? I mean, you really are an idiot who can't put on his own tie but still. It's all about appearance. Just play the part and no one will know the difference… there! Perfect" Tally leaned back, admiring her handiwork. Getting me into a tux.

I glowered next to her in the limo, courtesy of her parents. They both worked for some super important company which was holding a "gala", as Tal put it. I was hoping beyond hope that she wouldn't drag me along, but she didn't want to be the only person under 40. She's fourteen, talks too much, and is convinced she a movie star under cover. Our parents had worked together at Itex until my mom died and my dad quit, but we had been practically raised together, though I'm two years older.

This weird brotherly responsibility keeps me sticking around, going to her school plays though I'd rather claw my eyes out and being dragged to parties I'd rather see crashed by Vikings. Sometimes I wonder why I haven't thrown myself in front of the R train.

"We're here! Omigod! Look at all those people" Her face was practically glued to the window, excitement bubbling up in her eyes while dread built up in mine. "Oh stop being such a spoil sport. Can't I at least have fun?"

"You'd have had fun even if I wasn't here. Which makes this that much more like torture" I said, pulling on my tie. It was choking me, I was sure of it. No matter how many times I pulled the damn thing down, it snuck up and suffocated me.

"Well, aren't you just a burst of sunshine, like always. You know I don't really know why I always bring you along to this stuff. You just pout and glare at everyone. It's so annoying. I should, like, shun you or something cause you are such a social pariah" The car lurched to a halt and the driver came around to Tally's door. She gracefully got out, followed by me, and led the way to the velvet rope.

"You don't even know what a pariah is" I muttered and soon we were walking up the huge grand staircase with the crystal chandelier sparkling in the city's lights.

Liv(Max):

Should I mention here that the Rainbow Room was anything but a stuffy old room? I mean, the obnoxious people were still there, but the room? Anything but stuffy. For the occasion, it had been decked out in elegant drapes with crystal chandeliers and all white flowers. Glamorous and glistening, it could have made a blind man see.

I was ordered to stick to my Aunt's side until we spotted my mother, which would not be easy. A few faces I recognized from other parties held by Itex, but most were strangers. The woman were fierce looking, but beautiful all the same and some of the men were unbelievably attractive… there was something about them that reminded me of the gorgeous guy who had handed me that flier days ago.

We "fluttered", as my aunt liked to call it, around the room, socializing and being polite, but after about an hour, I couldn't stop myself from rolling my shoulders, hearing a satisfying crack. A couple looked over at me in distaste and I shrugged it off, not caring what these people thought of me.

"Would you stop that?" Aunt Kaye asked in a hushed tone.

"Stop what? I only did it once!"

"Doesn't matter, once is enou-" But my aunt's speech was cut off by a light laugh I knew by heart. We turned and there, surrounded by adoring co-workers, was my mother, Anne.

"Mom!" I made my way through the crowd, rolling my shoulders again. It was suddenly too hot in there, too crowded. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. For the second time since coming to New York, it felt like someone was watching me. I ignored it for the moment.

"Ah, Max, dear… I've missed you so much! You look wonderful, honey. Listen this is-"

"Who's Max?" I asked. I had never met anyone named Max and it bothered me that my mom would forget my name. My own mother.

"What are you talking about?" She looked confused, but I could see in her eyes- which flicked around the room like a humming bird- that she knew what I was referring to.

"You just called me Max, Mom. Who is Max?" Why would she try to cover it up? I didn't care if she had slipped up, people do it all the time. But lie? Maybe Max was a guy she was dating but didn't want to tell me about yet or… a friend of hers she had just been talking to…

"Stop being ridiculous. I did no such thing, I know my own daughter" She laughed her airy light laugh and her co-workers did the same, though hesitantly. Music suddenly burst to life all around, loud and boisterous and my head started to throb.

"Apparently not, if you don't know my name! I don't care, but why are you lying about it? We all heard you"

"Stop it. You have gone too far. I do not lie, you know that. Now if you cannot behave-" she was fuming, but I cut her off.

"You'll what? Ground me? As if, that's never worked before, why would it work now? I want to know why you just called me Max. That's all" I don't know why it bothered me so much, being called Max. Something about the name seemed so familiar, like a dream you couldn't remember when you woke up.

She got real quiet then, her green eyes becoming somber, almost sad. Her gaze flickered once over my shoulder, and she gave a curt nod, barely perceptible. When she looked back at me she smiled lightly.

"No, Max. That's not all… I'm afraid it's just beginning"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

Aiden(Ig):

"Watch it, kid"

"Wish I could" I said to the guy I had accidentally bumped into. Being in a busy airport had thrown off my senses slightly and it gave me a headache. I felt dizzy and lost and was constantly reaching out to touch my sister's shoulder.

"Jeeze, Aid. Way to depress that guys day even more. It's not enough that he was totally grotesque, but he just yelled at a blind kid too… yikes" Becka laughed lightly, her shoulders shaking.

I smiled. The only good thing about Rebecka could be the way she makes me laugh. Everything else I could do without. Especially her sidekick.

"God, I'm pretty sure whoever your talking to will survive an hour without precious Becka's opinion" My Dad called our names from a few feet ahead. I guess the security line had moved up but she was so absorbed, she hadn't noticed.

There were too many sounds in the airport. Laughing, crying, talking, shouting, music, static, beeps and ticking- ticking? I'm pretty sure that isn't a good sound to hear in an airport… especially this kind of ticking… I knew it too well.

"Hey, Becks… do you hear that?" I tilted my head to listen better. Still there.

"No… what should I be hearing?" The sound of loose change hitting the bottom of a bowl and her sidekick dropping in. Shoes squeaking, the beep of the metal detector…

And still that steady ticking.

"Ticking… it sounds like-" I had just placed my bag on the tray and stepped through the detectors arch when a man- I'm guessing the security guy- shouted-

"Bomb!" Within two seconds I was tackled to the ground by some sweaty man with a really sharp thing stabbing my chest. His badge.

"What?" I gasped. I could hear people screaming and my parents shouting.

This was insane… they thought I had a bomb? I mean, at home that would be normal, but I'm not stupid enough to bring one into an AIRPORT!

"Stay down! Don't move! The police are almost here" They shoved my face down for emphasis of just how much trouble I was really in. They couldn't really believe me, an obviously blind boy, would build a bomb- though I can and have since I was seven- and bring one into a high security level premises.

"We'll take it from here, thank you sirs" This voice was smooth, calm, confident. It was perfectly monotone and flat, showing no emotion. I pictured some cold FBI agent flashing his badge.

Suddenly, I was lifted off the ground by strong hands which were then replaced by strong handcuffs. I could hear my mom shouting my name, my dad yelling about how insane this was and to let me go.

The last thing I heard from my family was my little sister asking when I would be able to go home. The answer I heard was never.

Damien(Fang):

_You've got to kidding me..._

I was standing by the women's restroom, waiting for Tally to finish fusing over her hair and makeup. Apparently she needs an escort wherever she goes and can't be left alone for one second. I drew the line when it went to bathrooms.

But that wasn't what had my eyes widening- though my fists were clenched from standing there for more than 20 minutes. Instead, what really got me was the girl in the pink dress.

I knew her from... somewhere. Something about her seemed oddly familiar, like a childhood friend you happen to meet again.

My gaze followed her as she eased her way through the crowd, making her way to a woman who obviously was the head honcho. Everyone adored her, laughed at her jokes and nodded at her opinions. You couldn't be here more than five minutes without noticing her.

Pink Girl hugged the woman, apparently un-mesmerized by her as the rest seemed to be. Turns out, PinkGirl was BossLady's daughter, and it didn't look like such a happy reunion. She looked confused at first, then annoyed and with each word she said, her mother got more and more angry until she just stopped. BossLady nodded to someone and my head whipped around to follow her eyes just in time so a black suit disappear into a back door.

I glanced at the bathroom door, sighed and knocked. If Tally didn't leave by choice, I'd leave her there… No reply. I knocked again and when there was still no answer, I headed toward where the man in the suit had vanished.

Turning down waiters and squeezing between people, I reached the hidden door. I looked towards the mother and daughter feud. Mom was winding down but daughter was even more confused… and tense?

I checked for waiters or people watching and quietly turned the door's handle, sighing when it clicked open. Some gut feeling had me slipping through the door, closing it quickly behind me.

It took a minute for my eyes to adjust to the dark, 'cause it was dark. No lights, not even a flicker under the door. Just pitch-blackness.

Eventually I could see stairs to my right, leading down and nothing else. A scream erupted from inside the ballroom, followed by shouts and glass breaking. My heart beat quickened and my blood ran cold. Something had gone wrong. Really wrong.

I yanked on the door… but it didn't budge. I twisted the handle but it was locked.

_Shit! Shit, shit, shit, shit…._

Pounding on the door, more glass crashed to the floor outside, more shouts and among all the chaos, I heard laughter…. Confused and anxious, needing to get to Tally, I didn't hear the men approaching me from behind.

I only had time to turn around when the world went black.

Liv(Max):

"What the hell does that mean?" My first thought was that maybe she was sticking me in therapy and my problems were only just beginning or sending me to boot camp. Something "concerned parent"- ish.

Boy was I off.

"It'll become clear in time… you'll understand, remember. Hopefully" Nervous laughter erupted from a few of the men and women around mommy- dearest.

"I hope you know how psychotic you sound" I said as my fists clenched. My mom smiled sadly, her eyes filled with a sort of regret. I was more confused than a turkey on thanksgiving…. But oddly prepared for what came next.

A heavy hand landed squarely on my shoulder and when I turned a scream ripped from my throat. I couldn't stop it. My eyes bulged, my stomach leapt into my throat. I backed away slowly, not believing my eyes, not wanting to.

It was hideous. Snarling and hairy. It looked like Cujo on steroids but with anger management issues. Long, pointed ears with a snarling jaw, spit dripping off of fangs, claws extended from oversized hairy paws. I couldn't hear anything but the blood rushing in my ears.

There were five of them, towering over me and a pain so sharp and severe shot down my spine, starting at my shoulders.

"Max, dear, you remember Ari don't you?" The woman I had formerly thought was my mom was legitimately insane. I was positive of that now.

"You remember straight jackets don't you? Cause I'm sure you've been in one before" Luckily, my humor was still in tact. That's gotta be a good thing right?

Suddenly, the one in the front- Ari, I'm assuming- took a gigantic swing at my head, just missing when I dropped to the ground. Instead he knocked into a waiter, throwing him across the room. Wine glasses clashed to the floor all around as people dropped their glasses and waiters dropped their trays.

_Why weren't they screaming? Why wasn't anyone doing anything?_

"You know what to do boys" Anne said, and the six monsters spread around me, drooling overload.

"So, Max… ready to get back in shape? We've let you off the hook these past couple years… miss me?" I was surprised that thing could talk, let alone breathe with a mouth like that. And I was really sick of people calling me Max.

"No.. I did not miss you because I don't know you… I'm pretty sure I'd remember someone as…. Unique as you" I didn't hear the thing behind me until it was too late.

"Don't worry, we can catch up soon enough" And with a laugh, he nodded to someone behind me.

The next thing I knew, something sharp pricked my neck and the lights went out.


	6. Chapter 6

Liv(Max):

"Ugh…" My entire body felt like it had been stuffed into a trunk and shipped around the world. My arm was pinned underneath me and pins and needles were beginning to creep up.

It was cold, wherever I was, and stiff, like I was sleeping on concrete. I hadn't opened my eyes yet and was mentally preparing myself for what I might see. Flashes of my mom's Annual Confederate Ball popped up in my mind and I flinched. I was probably in the trunk of a car, slowly sinking to the bottom of the Hudson.

But wouldn't I be…soaked? And dead?

_Count of three…one-two-three._

Oh, how I regretted opening my eyes. Maybe if I just shut them really fast, it would be like I had never opened them to begin with. That didn't work out so well either.

It looked like jail. Like I was stuck in a prison cell made for one of the seven dwarves. But in reality, people would just call it a cage. A steel bared cage. With, might I add, a padlocked chain.

I hoisted myself into a semi-sitting position and edged closer to the bars. Linoleum floors and fluorescent lights, like my mom's office. The smell of antiseptics was over whelming and I wished I had been able to sleep longer.

Across from me was a wall of cages, probably the same size as mine, and when I craned my neck, I could see more cages aligned with mine.

"Hello?!...is any one out there?" I knew I was alone, it was too quiet in here. The air too still. There was something so, so wrong going on.

My fingers clutched the bars of the dog crate and shook, back and forth. The chain only loosened a little bit, the door barely budging. Anger and frustration welled in my gut at the thought of anyone being able to lock me up like this.

Faintly, the sound of footsteps reached my ears and I flung myself at the front of the cage. I probably should have realized that maybe if there was someone just walking around a place like this, they were not going to help me. I probably should have kept my mouth shut- about a lot of things- but my mouth like a steel trap just wouldn't allow that.

"HELP!... Hey!... Can you hear me?! Let me OUT of HERE!" I yelled and the footsteps slowed, then stopped. I heard the jingle of keys then the snick of the lock. This person had keys, meaning they were definitely not one of the good guys.

I was a row up from the floor, so the only part of this guy I could see was his legs- which were clad in dark jeans- and his feet. My heart started hammering, a bad feeling building in my chest. Maybe I shouldn't have yelled for help after all…

He chuckled and I shivered, my blood running cold. Slowly, annoyingly slow, he bent and peered in at me. I heard myself gasp.

He was gorgeous, unbelievably so, and I had seen him before. I had acted like a complete idiot in front of him, but I had seen him before. He was the guy who had stopped me my first day in New York. He had given me that flier and freaked my aunt out.

"Hey, Maxie… did you miss me?"

Damien(Fang):

"Now, you'll only feel a pinch"

Sure, that's what they said last time. I gritted my teeth, clenched my fist and waited for the first round of needles.

I woke up in a white lab, strapped to a hospital bed with clear tubes pumping multi-colored liquid into my arm. Men in white lab coats hovered over me as they poked and prodded. It was a nightmare, something nobody could ever have written about or imagined unless they had lived it. But I highly doubt that.

Pain shot up my arm, across my shoulder and into my other arm. I struggled to keep in the pained scream building in my throat. I'd rather die than let them think they had hurt me, even a little bit. Biting my tongue kept me from groaning but it was too hard to keep down this scream. The pain was so intense, I wished for a second they would just cut off my arm to end it.

My vision started to tunnel, I was blacking out. Wave after wave of nausea made me want to puke. Colors blurred around me, though everything was pretty much white anyway.

They ripped out the first needle and moved on to the next. It was thicker and longer and when they stabbed it into my arm, I bit my lip so hard it bled. Ultraviolet liquid ran down the tube and into my veins which had started to glow in my arm, making it look like I had multi-colored tattoos running up and down my skin…

Seconds later it felt as though lightning had struck my spine. Over and over again shockwaves threatened to shatter my bones. I thought I was going to explode, or implode, either way, this pain was way worse than before…

And this time I couldn't bottle up the screams.


	7. Chapter 7

Aiden(Iggy):

I was thrown into the backseat of a car of some kind- literally, I think my feet lifted off the ground. I hit the other door and before I could even blink, the tires were screeching and the car lurched.

"What's going on? I didn't-" I started but a hand hit me upside the head out of nowhere.

"Shut-up. You only speak when spoken too" Isn't that like… illegal? To hit the people you arrest?

"I have the right to a lawyer" I felt it was necessary to point that out. If these guys were throwing my in jail, I wanted to at least have a chance to tell my side of the story- which included being hit in the head!

"That's great, kid. Too bad a lawyer won't help you any" It was the same guy who had spoken before, the tones and pitches of his voice identical.

The car stopped and I could hear muffled voices on the other side of the door. I had a bad feeling about all of this. The whole thing was just wrong. First, there was not a chance in hell that I was carrying a freaking explosive in an airport and second, I am not dumb enough to actually set it off, while it was on me! That's just… not even worth talking about anymore. And where were my parents?!

"I never had a bomb. Honest, it wasn't-" This time, I was slammed against the window, my head smacking against the glass.

"What did I say?... and we know you didn't have an explosive. We planted it" My head was throbbing and I felt dizzy, but I heard that. And the blood drained from my face.

I opened my mouth to speak, but slammed my jaw shut. I don't think my head could take another hit, it already felt like it had been cracked open. So I sat there, silently wondering about what was going to happen to me.

Liv(Max):

My life was officially a freak show. I mean, I had assumed it was before, but this whole "My mom had some messed up experimental monsters kidnap me" thing just topped it all off.

And now, I was being dragged out of a dog crate by an Abercrombie model. He walked me to the door he had come through and outside were more models, four of them actually. They looked kind of generic though, all slightly the same. Like they were made to look alike.

"Boys, take her to Conference Room 2" The first one said, and handed me over. They smacked some handcuffs on me and stuck me in the middle of their little entourage. If not for the current circumstances, I would have felt famous. Currently though, more like a criminal.

He turned me to next and flashed a dazzling smile- I noticed that his canine teeth were oddly pointy. His eyes were mocking and cold. He was enjoying this for some reason, but that would probably be why he was there. If he didn't enjoy kidnapping people, why would he?

"Since you don't remember, let me introduce myself- again… I'm Ari" Cause that means something to me.

"I'm tired and hungry. But I'm glad you think I care what your name is" I smiled at the annoyance that flashed in his eyes for a second. I had feeling me and Ari were not going to get along very well.

"Take her away" He said and turned on his heel to storm down the empty hall.

Chris(The Gasman):

_Blah, blah, blah… _Speeches are so boring. Especially ones about global warming and stuff. Ugh.

The crowd applauded and whistled and held up creepy signs with my Dad's face plastered on them as he wrapped up his speech on improving the city of New York. Which apparently needed a lot of improving cause his speech was long.

But I was quietly excited about the next candidates speech, because it was last one. I patted my coat pocket, which was sort of bulging from it's content. Toiling over a bunch of blue and red and yellow chords for hours had paid off- I never got my chlorine, but I'd figured out another way to activate my "surprise".

The people were still yelling "Batchelder!" when Dad sat down next to Mom, who held onto his hand. The only problem with my plan, was getting past my parents. There was no way they'd let me use the bathroom in the middle of this, not with every news station filming the stage we sat on. I couldn't slip away without being noticed.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Izzy fidgeting and fussing in her seat. She started bouncing up and down before she turned to me.

"I really have to use the bathroom… ask Daddy if I can go- say please!" Fighting a smile, I turned to my dad.

"She says she needs to go to the bathroom-"

"It's an emergency!" She hissed in my ear.

"Apparently, it's an emergency- oh and please?" If I was lucky, my plan may have a way to work after all.

Jeb Batchelder looked down through his wire rimmed glasses, and I could tell he was weighing his options. Say no and have potentially catastrophic results or say yes and risk me doing something that would cause potentially catastrophic results. Eventually, he smiled and glanced at my Mom who was watching the other candidate, smiling her politician's wife smile.

"Alright, but you go with her and if I hear… a single cookie crumb hit the floor back there it's warpath time" He winked at me and I felt a grin creep onto my face.

This was convenient… a little too much so. I would have been suspicious of my father's grin if I wasn't too stoked to set of my firework!

"Come on… he said yeah" I whispered and followed my sister off the stage and towards the bathrooms. When we were clear of the lobby, with all it's security guards and waiters and cameras, I pulled her to a stop and told her to go on and not get lost.

"What are you doing?... If you blow anything up-"

"Oh come on! Would I do something like that?" I smiled innocently and she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Yes. And I am not getting in trouble again" Izzy narrowed her blue eyes at me and scowled. I knew that look, the "stern" look. It never worked.

"You won't. I'll be back in like, ten seconds. I'm just going to get… some water" I said.

"Promise?" She didn't believe me but she was bouncing up and down again, so she probably just didn't care anymore.

"If you get in any sort of trouble you can punch me" That always worked, cause usually I'd just hit her back. A promise like that was too good to pass up.

She took off to the left and me to right. I had a rough idea of the whole layout of the building, but it was still going to be tricky to the find the entrance to get under the stage. From there I could set up near one of the openings, point the rocket upward, and set it off…. If I didn't get caught.

_No… nope… maybe- no! Definitely not! I am tainted for life!_, I slammed the door and tried to clear the mental image in my head. Sick! Sick, sick, sick…. Hurrying through down the hall, I peered through windows, opened doors, and still could not find the right one. I had to hurry, the speech was almost over and Iz was probably back in her seat.

"Hey! You shouldn't be down here"

I froze and sort of thought about running for it, but figured I'd be in even more trouble that way. I turned around and came face to face with three guys in security uniforms. They didn't look like the typical rent-a-cop. More like those guys in magazines.

"Sorry… I'm just lost, that's all" Nope, no secret plan for a fireworks display here. Just some adorable little kid lost on his way to the restroom.

"Why do I not believe you?" The one in the front said and in a second, the other two were pouncing on me and I was knocked to the ground. Something sharp pricked my neck and I was out.


	8. Chapter 8

Maximum Ride Fiction

Liv(Max):

They had sat me down in a room with only one long table and a chair. An interrogation room. It felt like there were eyes all over me, but I wouldn't be surprised if they had cameras everywhere. Evil Candid Camera.

I was handcuffed to the single chair, left facing the white walls. I tugged on the metal around my wrists- maybe those models they had doing their dirty work were one card short of a full deck. No luck. They were trained little psychopaths.

After a few minutes, I started tapping my foot, then whistling. I pulled on my handcuffs a few more times then gave up on that. So, with nothing good happening any time soon, I thought of my mom, the one person I had been trying not to think about.

Anne Walker. Mom. My whole life she was always going away on important business trips- none of which sounded very business-like considering most of them were to exotic places. When she was home though, she laughed a lot and tried to cook and was always just trying to make me happy. There was always love in her eyes.

But when she looked at me that party. I couldn't find my mom anywhere, not even in her smile. Just some lunatic who had possessed my mother's body. I shuddered at the memory of the look on her face, like I was some sort of specimen in one of her experiments.

And what do you know? I find myself locked away in a cage in a place that freakishly reminds me of her office. How lovely.

Finally- finally- the door opened and I strained to see who had entered, my back to the door. I could just barely see one… two… three people walk into the room. Two tan arms grabbed the base of my chair and effortlessly lifted me off the ground, turning the chair to face the newcomers. And I didn't bother to glare at Ari, because one of the people dressed in white coats… was my mom.

So why was I not surprised?

Aiden(Iggy):

It had to have been the longest car ride of my life. No sound except for the breathing, which would have been kind of creepy if I wasn't handcuffed and on my way to dead man's land.

When the car finally stopped and they dragged me out and I was just waiting for things to get even worse. The sound of our footsteps changed, telling me we were inside and the echoes said "empty". I was led left, then right, then right again.

I could faintly hear voices, one male one female. The tones said they were young- younger than me even. A door opened, the lock clicking open. It smelled weird in this place, like antiseptic and Purell combined. I wanted to gag.

"Hey! No talking" There was a loud clang, like something hitting metal. Someone stifled a shriek.

Rough hands pushed me forward and down. I felt trapped, the air too close around me. I felt with my hands the cold metal underneath me, and next to me and on top. In front of me were 16 bars running vertically.

There were a few more loud clangs, a chuckle and the door finally clicked shut. A pad lock. They actually had a pad lock on my cage. Wait… a cage. That's bad enough in itself, let alone the freaking pad lock. That just topped it off.

I didn't have my lock-picking gear with me which just figured. They had planned it well. Of course I wouldn't carry all that metal with me through security, so they snagged me when I didn't have anything on me. Least of all an explosive device.

"So, how'd they get you?" A girl, definitely younger than me, asked, her voice coming from straight ahead. I could tell she was afraid, her voice layered with it.

My eyes looked pointlessly in her direction.

"Pretended to be cops and took me from the airport" I left out the whole bomb thing. These were impressionable kids, had to set the example for not handling weapons.

"They ambushed me when I was washing my hands in the bathroom… how sick is that?! Like, could they not wait till I was at least out of the bathroom? It's called respect, they should so a little. It's not like I did anything to them, I mean-" She was cut off by the only other person in the room.

"She's talks a lot, I know. But you sort of get used to it" The boy, younger than her, said. He was next to me, in the cage on the left. "I'm Chris and she's Tally, apparently"

"Aiden" I answered and we sat in silence for a while.

My conscious was starting to eat at me after a few minutes. These kids were probably no older than fourteen, and I being the oldest had a responsibility. Okay, so I also wanted to get myself out of this place. The smell alone could drive me insane.

"I'm going to assume neither of you have a lock pick, so do you have a hair pin or something?" I shifted in the cramped space and rolled my shoulders. The pain was sharper than before here.

"Are you gonna pick the lock?! That's so cool… Hold on. Here- good thing they kidnapped me from a party, huh?" Tally said and I reached between the bars to meet her hand halfway. But when my fingers brushed hers, ever so slightly, something really weird happened.

I recognized her the way her skin felt. The texture and warmth. I had met her before, I had to have. By touching people's hands I can identify them, and I always commit it to memory. Her skin felt so familiar, like holding my sisters hand. I knew Tally, somehow.

Instead of saying anything though, I wasn't altogether sure myself, I mumbled a thanks and took the pin. I felt for the lock, then slid the hair pin into the key hole, feeling for the tumblers and listening for the right click. Ten seconds later, the heavy lock and chain clattered to the floor, echoing loud and angry.

"Dude… you're awesome" Chris said as I slipped out of the cage and moved on to his. Again, the lock popped open almost instantly. I silently thanked my dad for teaching me all my tricks. He was pretty cool that way.

"So… what do we do now?" Tally asked as she dropped to the ground, bringing up a good point.

I hadn't thought that far yet, just to getting out of the cages. Closing my eyes, I could almost remember how many turns had been leading me here. I couldn't let them see how unsure I was, so I squared my shoulders and stood tall.

"We find an exit"

Liv(Max):

"Mom?" I gasped. I had known she was behind this whole thing, kind of obvious from that whole party fiasco, but I was in shock and still trying to deny it. Having the truth splayed in front of me was like a smack in the head.

She smiled at me, that new sad smile, but didn't say a word. The man next to her was looking at me like I was some new toy. He was tall and pale, with graying hair and blue eyes hidden behind wire rimmed glasses. He stood with an air of importance, like he was the President or something. Little did he know he was about to be impeached.

"So… you just going to stand there gawking at me? Or were you planning to say something?" He looked sort of like a talk show host. I was half expecting him to ask "Deal? Or No deal?"

Ari, the freak model wonder, lifted a hand like he was going to hit me, but a stern look had him lowering his hand and glowering. I smirked at him. No way was he going to lay a hand on me, I'd go Bruce Lee on his pretty boy butt, with the chair handcuffed to me.

"Maximum, it's good to see you again, after so long. You've grown up quite a bit, which will be good overall. Though, I'm not too sure how time has effected this experiment…." He was more talking to himself than to me and turned to my mom. " We'll need to run some tests on her. Tell them to have secure restraints- F9278a almost managed to slip away…"

Mommy-dearest nodded and left, leaving my with them. I was already an experiment?! Well, that was just great. Probably a test tube baby too… I never did know my father. My eyes widened at the thought, but I brushed it aside. Now was no the time for stupid fantasizing. I had to get out of there, soon, before I wound up like F… whatever he had said. Strapped down and tested.

I shuddered.

The man in the white coat was placing pictures across the table, of five different people, starting with a young girl and ending with a boy probably my age. White Coat stared the pictures with an almost wistful expression then stared at me.

"What do you think when you look at these pictures?" He asked, watching my reactions as I moved my eyes from face to face. I slowly shook my head.

"I don't know who any of them are…" Which was true, but not what I was thinking. There was something about them- especially the older boy- that seemed so familiar. The wheels in my head were turning double time, trying to drag some name from the corners of my memory to put with those faces. I closed my eyes, willing myself to remember.

_Come on… you know them, you do. But from where?..._

_The sun was shining through the trees, bathing the world in a green light. I looked down on the world, from my spot up in a great elm tree. Not the entire world, just mine. My own personal world, made of only those I loved the most. Five kids, not exactly normal but perfect just the same. I watched as they sat and talked around an old fire pit, lounging, their wings stretched out. I could feel my own stretching to full length as I dropped to the ground, catching myself easily with my flecked wings. My Flock turned to me and my second in command almost smiled. "Hey, Max"_

My eyes snapped open as my pulse soared and heart started pounding in my throat. I rolled my shoulders which were so tight, the muscles pinched and bones cracked. Looking again at the photos before me, I recognized them all, and could name them, everyone of them.

"I think you do know them, my dear. More than you know… Ari, leave us. I'll call if I need you" He turned to Ari, who was pouting in a corner and nodded to the door. He glared at me then slammed the door shut.

"I'm sorry, you don't remember me either. I'm Jeb- Batchelder. I've known you since were born, Max. I'm sure it will all come rushing back with the right trigger" Jeb leaned against the table, hands folded neatly, waiting. Something about him made my skin crawl and resentment rushed inside of me. I resented him and his superior attitude. This guy wasn't any better than me! He was worse, experimenting on kids.

I looked at the photo of the young blonde girl and my heart melted. A slow smile spread across my face as I looked at her gentle curls and innocent blue eyes.

_My baby…_ "Angel" I said, and noticed Jeb's eyebrows raise slightly.

The boy in the snapshot next to hers looked just like her- blonde curly hair, blue eyes. There was a mischievous little gleam to his eye, even in a still photo.

"The Gasman" I didn't bother looking at Jeb, I knew I was right. There was a lump building in my throat and I fought to swallow it down.

Next was a pretty girl with dark skin and hair that barely seemed tamable. Her dark eyes were wide with shock and she looked like she had been in the middle of a sentence when the picture was taken. I grinned and rolled my eyes.

"That's Nudge" My mind was buzzing with all these thoughts that didn't seem like my own, but were mine. Images kept fluttering behind my eyelids, names and words. My dreams, haunting me when I was awake.

"And Iggy" I nodded at the second to last picture. Straight, somewhat messy blonde hair matched with pale skin and milky eyes. Blind- he was blind but could see better than anyone.

I hesitated before looking at the last picture, knowing already who it would be. Dark and quiet, the strongest of all of us. "Fang" I whispered, still not looking at his photo. But I made myself look and swallowed down another lump in my throat. There was no way I would cry, not in front of this psycho. That would be showing weakness, and I would never give him that satisfaction.

Jet black hair that should have been cut a long time ago, just as dark eyes peering out of a tanned face. To anyone else, he would have seemed dangerous, but to me he was home. My best friend.

"_Max… stop being stupid! You are not going to go after Ari, just let him go- he'll be back, like always" Fang's grip on my wrist was so tight it might of cut off circulation in my hand. His dark wings flashed almost purple in the light as his eyes flashed black. _

"_Is the almighty Fang… scared?" He rolled his eyes and let go of my hand as the Flock landed close by._

"_Not scared… just smart"_

"Very good, Maximum… however, it would seem that our experiment failed, if you were able to remember so easily" There was an odd look in his eyes, like he could see into my head, knew everything that was happening in my mind. That would be impressive, considering I didn't even know what was happening in my head. Maybe he could tell me.

He collected the photos, slid them into a file folder and left me sitting there. Alone again. I thought of everything that had happened to me since coming to New York City. Maybe I should have just stayed home, never left Virginia. It was pointless though, I had a feeling that this all would have happened whether I was in Washington D.C. or New York City. They'd have gotten me anyway.

Something occurred to me as I sat there, thinking. All my memories had come rushing back, some not even making sense to me yet… but one this was certain. There was something in my memory that was missing and an insane anger welled in my gut as I realized what was wrong with me…

_My wings!_ A lump the size of Europe was caught in my throat and there was no swallowing it down. Rolling my shoulders, I tried to remember how it felt. They were light and stretched almost 13 feet. Flecked with brown and white, marble wings. Behind closed eyes, I was flying, cutting through clouds like a knife through butter. Soaring, my Flock soaring right beside me. If I concentrated, I could almost feel the wind in my hair.

How dare they take them away from… how dare they take my memories, change my life just cause they could. I was not some pawn they could just play with. Without even meaning to, a goal had been set.

I strained against my handcuffs, the metal biting into my skin. Blood ran down my right hand, slow and warm. I looked around, searching for anything I could use, but it was pointless. All I had was a table. I heard somewhere that some animals bit off their own limbs just to get free again… well, I wasn't going that far, but I thought about it for a split second. How's that for drastic measures?

My ears picked up the sound of feet scurrying in the hall outside, and rapid whispers. It wasn't the sound of over-confident White Coats or Erasers. Was that….

Desperately, I pushed with all my strength, my chair scraping against the cold ground. Inch by inch I got closer to the door as they got further down the hall. But I couldn't yell, couldn't draw too much attention. So, when I was close enough, I kicked the door, not hard enough to break it, but enough so they would hear it. I hoped they wouldn't be too afraid to open the door… I kicked again and heard their voices right outside.

Seconds later, the lock clicked open and in poked a curly blond head, followed by crazy brown hair and sightless eyes.

"Hey guys" I said and smiled at the look on their faces.


	9. Chapter 9

Happy New Year!! Thanks for all the reviews and stuff, I'm glad you like it. Sorry this took so long to get up, no internet access. Grrrrr.

disclaimer thing- J.P. owns, not me.

Fang:

Every muscle in my body throbbed with pain. I could almost hear the bones creaking as I moved around in the tight crate. The emptiness between my shoulders was unbearable, a taunting reminder of what my life used to be like. Before they messed with my memories and took my wings.

I wondered if the rest of the Flock were there with me, if they remembered yet. Sure, they had made me remember by pumping different chemicals into me before finding the right one, but still. Images of their faces and flying kept creeping into my thoughts, no matter how hard I tried to keep them down.

Hopeless, that's how I felt. No wings, no Flock, nothing. First the White Coats give me a life I never wanted and make me forget the only one I had ever had, then they decide they made a mistake and drag everything that had been hidden back out. I was trapped, really trapped this time. Even if I managed to escape, what would I do? With no wings, I'd be just any other homeless kid walking around, but with an insane bunch of scientists after me.

They couldn't have let me be blissfully ignorant, could they?

I still had to try though. I'd get myself out then track down the Flock, that's it. Even if they didn't remember who I was, just seeing them would be enough. Just knowing they were okay.

I wondered if I still stronger than normal people, faster, lighter. They hadn't done any physical tests yet, but that could only be next. Might as well get a head start.

First, I grabbed hold of two bars on the door of my dog crate and tried to bend them back… No luck, so I tried to break the hinges. Next I pulled my legs as close to my chest as possible and kicked with all my strength at the smooth siding. A rush of hope sprang in my gut at the sight of a small dent. So I was stronger. Great.

Twice more I kicked the wall, each time denting it more and more. There were other experiments in the room with me, some not so successful. I could see the one across from me- a mix between a fish and a lizard, gills and four legs- look at me with three frightened eyes, curious.

All the anger I felt towards Itex and the School made its way to my legs, giving me extra strength. The metal was beginning to peel away from its seams and I could see the floor through the opening. Adrenaline pumped through my veins, making my hands shake slightly.

One more kick left and the door burst open. I froze, but I was towards the back, shoved into the very last cage next to the back wall. The only way to see the damage I had done would be to look inside my cage or between it and the wall.

An eraser walked in, carrying a small child in his arms. She was bruised and her blonde hair knotted. I flinched at the thought of what they had put her through. He tossed her into the dog crate next to mine, but he never looked at me. There was split second where I could see her face and a wave of thoughts rushed through my head.

_Angel._ My memories were returning bit by bit and she brought up whole new ones.

I gritted my teeth but felt relieved in a sick way. I wasn't alone at least, and maybe the others were here after all. A new determination filled me and with one last powerful kick, I was free, able to slip through the gap and slide to the ground.

I checked for any white coats or erasers then moved to Angel's cage, peering inside. She was unconscious, curled into a ball in the far corner. My heart melted at the sight of her as I realized how much I missed her and the Flock. I grabbed the lock on the door and with a firm pull, it snapped off, the metal twisted. The cage creaked open and I reached inside, pulling her into my arms.

With a quick look up and down the hall, I took off, carrying a piece of my Flock with me.

Max:

They just stared at me like I had four heads and a tail. It didn't occur to me that maybe they didn't remember who I was- yet. Just the sight of them- Iggy, Gazzy and Nudge- warmed my heart and brought a smile to my face.

Okay, so they were totally clueless about their real lives, not the ones assigned to them, but I had been too just twenty minutes before. I figured I'd cut them some slack. But right before my eyes, something in Nudge's eyes clicked. The way she looked at me shifted a little bit. Was she remembering something? Maybe the sound of my voice or how it felt to have wings. I'll never know, but in a split second her gaze seemed so much clearer and her eyes widened a fraction.

"So… you want to un-cuff me so we can get the heck out of here?" I said, tugging at the metal around my wrists one more time.

Nudge was at my side in an instant, still looking slightly confused but underneath I could see the excitement in her eyes. Gazzy and Iggy were more hesitant, still unsure about who this stranger was, hand cuffed to a chair.

"Come on! Undo the locks before someone comes" Nudge waved them over, though Iggy couldn't see it. Huh, I would have thought they would try to fix his eyes before sending him off to be normal. Maybe it wasn't fixable.

His feather soft touch floated over my wrists, searching for the cuffs. I noticed him freeze for a second when he first touched my skin, but he shook it off. My heart fell just a little bit. Seconds later I was free, rubbing my wrists which were red from straining.

I looked at each one of them, taking in how different they looked, how grown up, since the last I remembered seeing them. A lump lodged in my throat yet again and I swallowed it down. God, I was turning into such a cry baby, and I hadn't even had my memory back half an hour.

We made our way down the halls, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw The Gasman- or Chris as he introduced himself- steal quick glances at me. I led the way, automatically slipping back into my old role, and it felt good. Right.

Some instinct kicked in as I led the way through… the School. That's right. Everything was coming back to me, bit by bit, and all I had to do was search through all the info in my head to find it. I was trying not to think about a certain two things that should have been attached to my back but had been surgically removed therefore leaving my grounded- literally- when Nudge, or "Tally", snuck up next to me.

"Max?" She whispered in a disbelieving voice, her eyes wide and hesitant. I froze for a split second, causing Iggy to slam into my back, as my heart leapt into my throat. Oh no, not the water works again…. But I couldn't stop it!

She wasn't sure, but I could tell she remembered- finally! I just about jumped for joy and was about to hug her to death when a body- or two- rammed me to the floor. We went sprawling, arms and legs flailing, and I even got a mouth full of fist.

"Yo! Watch it!" I grumbled as I pulled myself to my feet. My assailant was already on his feet and it took me a second to process his face. Once I did though, my draw about dropped to the floor.

"Fang?!" I shrieked at the same Nudge yelled "Damien!" My head whipped around to look at my best friend, eye brow cocked. Damien?

His eyes bulged practically out of his skull but he composed himself. Even two years later and he was still Mr. Mysterious. But how I had missed him, even if I hadn't known who he was. I had always had the feeling something was missing.

Fang kept his eyes trained on me as he bent and picked up the little blonde girl he had been carrying… This was just too much. Could there possibly be more surprises and revelations in a single day? I smiled down at an unconscious Angel as anger swelled in my veins. She was bruised and battered and I had a feeling she was already well acquainted with her old life. The White Coats had always considered a special experiment so it made sense that they would test her as soon as possible.

Just then, Fang's gaze flicked over my shoulder before he met my eyes and handed Angel gently over to Iggy whose face was priceless. I made a mental note to laugh about it later as I turned to face the six Erasers crowded into the hallway.

Not even an hour of being good old Maximum Ride again, and they were already on my tail? I couldn't wait to see what would happen after a day.


	10. Chapter 10

Fang:

_Max… holy shit._

My heart was hammering against my chest, my hands were clenched into fists to keep them from shaking. I couldn't stop looking at her, even as I dove towards the closest Eraser in sight.

She looked so different, so much older. I sucker punched my guy square in the face a split second before I round house kicked another. They dropped like bricks and I was happy to see my fighting skills come back easily.

_Like riding a bike._

It felt good, the impact of fist to jaw. Familiar and normal. While I remembered being Damien, I was Fang again… and life was already feeling back to normal, though it was anything but.

I ducked below a hairy flying arm and slid my leg under his feet, knocking him to the ground. He fell with an _oomf. _Max's hair streamed out behind her as she zipped from one Eraser to the next. Her speed was still in tact, which probably meant her personality was too.

As the last Eraser hit the floor, she turned to me with a grin. I almost smiled back. Until she opened her mouth.

"Damien, huh? Was that supposed to be ironic?" She asked and with a light laugh, threw her arms around my neck. I blinked, but slowly brought my arms around her waist.

Images and clips of things that happened between me and her flashed before my eyes. Every smile she gave me, every time her wings had brushed mine while flying. Every time she said my name…

Max:

Would it be weird and altogether awkward for me to say that it felt good having Fang's arms around me? That… for the first time in two years, the world felt right side up again?... I thought so, so I'm never going to mention that again.

"Hey! That's my sister!" The Gasman's outburst dragged us both back to the here and now. I was at his side in an instant, my arm around his shoulders. Gazzy was my little tough guy, and to see that panicked look in his eye broke my heart.

"Don't worry, Gazzy. I promise you, Angel will be okay. Even if I have to sell a liver, by tomorrow, she'll be good as new" Oops. Should I have used his real name? I wasn't sure how this whole rediscovering your past life worked… maybe it was best to let it happen in time? Either way, all I cared about was that he remembered.

The White Coats had messed up before- hence Ig's lack of vision- so how did I know they couldn't mess up. Maybe one of us wouldn't ever come back. The thought scared the hell out of me.

The hall suddenly filled with red lights and blaring alarms. We didn't have time, as it turns out. Shouts came from behind us and Erasers were flooding the corridors. And surprise of surprises…

Ari was in leading them all.

"Well, I see our golden child is back in full force… too bad she can't just fly herself out" he sneered. Compared to all the others, Ari was the most wolfish looking. The angles of his face were severe and that evil gleam never quite left his eye.

"Too bad they can't just make you less ugly, then maybe I'd feel a little bad about kicking your ass" I replied with a smile.

Fang was beside me in seconds, the two of us blocking off the Flock. Sure, it would be helpful if they blinked and tada! They were themselves again, but I guess it wasn't so easy for the younger kids.

Ari charged at me- he was never good with criticism, I remember- but I dodged him easily enough and managed to grab his coat and swing him into the wall. Right before our eyes, the Erasers went from ruggedly handsome to morbidly grotesque. Fangs and claws, hair and slobber. It was enough to give Steven King a run for his fictional money.

We didn't get far into their ranks though, Fang and I, because of a single word we knew too well.

"DUCK!" We dropped like bricks at The Gasman's command and I wondered for a second how he had managed to get his hands on an explosive device, but nixed that. I had to remember who I was talking about here. Memory or not.

Something whizzed by my ear and I could feel the heat against my neck. A loud whistling then a crackling and brilliant color washed over everything. Blue that turned to silver, it was a firecracker, but it was enough to send the Erasers back, a few howling and on fire.

Now was our chance. I grabbed Fang's hand and pulled him towards the Flock as the smoke alarms blared and the sprinklers were set off. Smoke made breathing hard and I could hear shouting on the other side of a huge smoke wall.

"Move! That way… let's go, find a way out- anything! Come on, come on, come on!" I shouted over the noise.

We ran through The School, past labs and holding cells. We were soaked through but that didn't stop us, freedom drove us all. Fang carried Angel and Gazzy guided Ig- whose face was shifting from one emotion to the next, the last being realization.

"Holy crap! Dude, I remember!" he said to The Gasman then louder "I remember! Hey, Max? Fang?"

"Hey, Ig… Fang nodded in you general direction" I said and smiled as Iggy laughed. There was unfortunately no time for celebration, Eraser's were hot on our tracks.

"Left… go… left" My head whipped around to see Angel squirming in Fang's grasp. She may be eight but I trusted her word more than anyone's in this place.

"Left up ahead!" We turned and there, at the end of a long hall, I could see light peeking under a heavy door. I could almost taste the cold air.

The final stretch. Nudge was gasping for breath but she found the energy to go even faster. I ran ahead, using my super speed- grinning how easily it came- and opened the door. It took some muscle, but the metal scraped against concrete. It opened onto a side alley, people bustling on crowded streets to the left and right.

In seconds, my Flock were pouring out into the night air of the city. I saw Ari turn onto the hall we had just ran down and slammed the door. Fang helped me slide a huge trash bin in front and it started to shake as they pounded against it from the inside.

"Where are we going to go?" Nudge asked. I had a feeling that we couldn't go back to the people we had formerly thought to be our family. It was clear now that they were anything but.

Anne Walker. I mean please! I wondered for a second who Jeb had taken under his fatherly wing.

"I don't know, but we need to get away from here. Come on" we molded into the throngs of people. I guess there was one upside to not having wings… we sure did blend more easily.

I came to my senses seconds later. Obviously being back in the School and breathing that good old toxic waste must have messed with my brain cells. Not having my wings was like not having a head! It just wasn't right. I was an avian- hybrid. Without my wings, there was nothing to show for it except hollow bones and super abilities.

Which, I guess compared to all you normal people, isn't that bad of a turn out.

"I know where we can go" Fang appeared at my side, silent as the day we met. The first time, anyway.

"I'm listening" I answered. Leave it to good ol' Fang to step in when I had nothing. My mind was mush by that time, too much swirling around for me to make sense of any of it.

"There's an old hotel a few blocks from were… I used to live. I know they stopped construction cause of the weather, but there's still lights and heating I think" He shifted Angel's position on his shoulder and with a jerk of his neck, cleared the hair out of his eyes. "We can shack up there for the night"

I looked at my second in command for the first time since breaking through all the mental blocks the White Coats had built around my memories. The street lights were going full force and it had started to snow, giving Fang an unearthly glow. His coal black hair ruffled slightly in the cold breeze.

My heart started pounding and I could feel a blush creep up onto my cheeks. What was happening? Fang had never had that effect on me before, and it scared me a little bit.

"Hmm…? Oh, it's our only option, considering I don't think we can go back to our foster families" I said. Fang nodded and slipped into his "I'm deep in thought" mood. Even after two years kept apart and forgotten, I still knew Fang better than he did.

Every minute, a new memory would drudge itself up from the depths of my mind. It was my life in short and I knew that no matter how hard we tried, our lives would never go back to how they had been back then. Back when we were really and truly The Flock. Before our heads were tampered with and rearranged.

I rolled my shoulders again as we hurried down the crowded and bustling streets of New York, checking over my shoulder for any sign of Erasers and flinched as a particular image flashed before my eyes.

Fang, Iggy, The Gasman, Nudge, and Angel- flying around me, high above the everyday world that we had found ourselves trapped in. 12 beautiful wings, stolen. And I wasn't sure if it was even possible to get them back, but for the Flock's sake, I prayed to whatever gods were out there that it was.

I don't really like this chapter for some reason... it just sort of bothers me when I read it. Oh well... you tell me what you think!


	11. Chapter 11

Sooo sorry it took so long to get this up. My computer died on me and I just got it back. Anyway, I'm going to try to get chapters up as soon as I can but I have like an hour everyday free and that's pretty much it. I really need a vacation.

Max:

So far, this is what I've gathered from life on the ground- completely on the ground, as in your feet never leave it unless you jump.

(A) Always watch where you step- your shoe may get covered in something totally unpleasant.

(B)Wear comfortable shoes(read A again). Ouch.

(C)Keep away from the curb when a large truck drives by- It took hours for my shirt to dry off.

(D)And last but definitely not least, do not try to swipe a pretzel off a street vendor. They have eyes like a hawk.

Which brings us to our current situation.

"Max…" Here it comes. "I'm hungry" As always, Nudge was the one to bring up the food issue. Which just spurred everyone to rally behind her.

"Yeah… can we get some… burgers and milk shakes and maybe some pie! Oh-"

"And some of those donuts with the swirls"

"Maybe a hero or two?"

We were hanging around Central Park, lounging on the benches even though it was less than 30 degrees out. It wasn't a weird site though, there were kids everywhere. There was an ice skating rink- made from a real frozen lake, like in those picturesque movies- and laughter was everywhere. For once, we actually sort of belonged. Blended perfectly.

I sighed and reached into my coat pocket. There was still money left over in my wallet from when I was Liv, not Max. 50 dollars actually. Of course, that flew out the window in two days, but I had a little bit left.

"Alright… I've got $11.50 left. What can we get with that here?" I asked. Compared to how we used to get by, dumpster diving and scavenging, having 11 dollars was high rolling. We could get food to last a month with that.

We're mighty resourceful avian-hybrids.

Turns out those deli specials really pay off. We got four pounds of ham and cheese, three loaves of bread and still had almost three dollars left over. And much to Angel's dismay, three dollars was not enough for some New York cheesecake.

"So. What do we do now?" Iggy asked before biting into a pretty delicious sandwich made by Maximum Ride herself. I may not be able to bake, but I sure can make a mean ham sandwich.

"We eat!" Gazzy said, his mouth full.

"No, stupid… I mean… now that we're all together again and stuff… what do we do? Like, not having wings is the worst thing that can happen to us, but it's sort of an opportunity right?" Fang and I exchanged glances. I guess he had thought about that too, as I had.

"Opportunity to what?" Angel asked, her blue eyes wide and curious. I just can not get over how adorable that little girl is, she makes kittens look like monsters under the bed.

"To start over" Nudge answered.

So we were all thinking it. As much as we hated to admit it, there was a chance that the White Coats taking away our wings would work out… well? A lump the size of a softball caught in my throat. The only thing I had ever really wanted for the Flock was a normal life and now that it was standing right in front of us… I don't think any of us wanted to take it.

So where did that leave us?

**The key to the future lies in the past, Max.**

"What?" I asked, looking at Fang who paused mid bite. His dark eyes darted away from mine then back and he lowered the sandwich as his eyebrow rose in question.

"Didn't you just say something?" He shook his head, silent as usual. Of course he didn't say anything, that would be like asking Jesus not to be holy.

**Don't assume.**

"Iggy?" I turned to him but I could tell by look in his face he hadn't said a word. I felt like it was April Fool's day and I was the fool.

"Gazzy, if that's you, I swear-"

"I didn't say anything, Max! None of us did" He stuck up his hands like a criminal and I noticed for a second that he really needed some soap.

Great, now they were all looking at me like I was some lunatic. Maybe I had imagined it, just my conscious sneaking up into my thoughts. That would make more sense- and make me feel better- than believing that I was hearing things. Shrugging I took a big bite.

**You should learn to embrace the truth, not shy away from it, Maximum.** **That is a sign of maturity.**

"Okay… this...this isn't f-funny anymore…" Feeling dizzy, I shook my head. I couldn't feel the ground under me, colors were blurring and sounds just became jumbled background noise.

_What is wrong with me?_ I thought. Food poisoning? I'd kill that deli guy, but I had this numbing feeling that wasn't it. My stomach was churning and I could feel my hands start to shake.

**I'm just giving you a push in the right direction. Some incentive for the future. Don't thank me yet though**. I couldn't tell if it was male or female, old or young, real or a machine. It just sort of echoed in my mind.

That was before the blinding pain.

Fang:

Max didn't look too good. Actually, she looked like she was about to pass out. She swayed and her hands shook, her face was ten shades paler. I was at her side in seconds, my arm around her shoulders, helping her stay upright.

The kids looked on with wide worried eyes- well, all except Ig who listened. This was getting weirder by the second. I vaguely remembered something like this happening a long time ago… but at the same point in the memory, it stopped. Skipped over. It was at the tip of my tongue but I couldn't fully grasp it.

"Max?...Max can you hear me?" I asked, giving her a gentle shake. Suddenly, she gasped and doubled over in pain. She clutched her head with both hands and groaned.

Whatever was happening, it was all in her head- literally. Max was fighting a battle that only she could hear or see. I didn't quite know what to do, so I just held her, ignoring the looks of the Flock.

They could joke all they wanted later, but right then all I knew was that Max was in pain. I looked down at her face and saw her eyes brimmed with tears and my heart sped up. The sight of her on the verge of crying terrified me- not that I'll admit that ever again.

Finally, there was something Max couldn't handle. What if this happened to all of us? If this is how Max took it, how would the younger kids? With one final cry, Max went limp in my arms.

"Is… is she okay?... Fang?" Nudge knelt beside me and reached out her hand to hold Max's. I looked at the Flock. Angel was crying, scared beyond belief, The Gasman's arm around her shoulders. Iggy's face was set in a mask of confusion and worry.

"I don't know" I said because I really did not know. She was alive, that was for sure, but I had no clue what had just happened. I was confused and lost. Was this something that happened because of the school? Anger flared in me.

"Um… Fang?"

"What?" I snapped and bit my tongue. Gazzy didn't deserve the spur of anger but when I looked at him, he hardly seemed to have noticed. His eyes were fixed to a spot over my head.

Slowly turning my head, my body tensed on its own. We were still in the Park, out of the view of most people but still out in the middle of the day so I doubted Ari would show up. And the Flock didn't look to be fight mode… just really, really confused.

"Do not worry. We're not here to hurt you" My eyebrows shot way up and my eyes widened larger than they ever had in my life. Too bad Max wasn't conscious to see my face. "We're here to help. The White Coats had there way with us as well- obviously- so we know what it's like. You can trust us"


	12. Chapter 12

These last two chapters were insanely boring but their setting up for the rest of the story. So, if you fall asleep reading them, make sure you review first.

Fang:

Standing a few feet away from where I knelt beside Max on the floor were four… people. The one who had spoken was a man, as far as I could tell. He sure didn't look human. His entire body was translucent, like a butterflies wings. He shimmered and in some places, I could see straight through him. That alone was pretty good evidence that they had at one time been at The School.

But the other three? They were crazier looking than the first. To his right stood a woman, shorter than him, but she stood out more than the rest. Her hair was a brighter red than fire and her skin was green. I could see gills on either side of her neck and her fingers were webbed together. Her electric blue eyes freaked me out a little bit.

The last two were a whole different story. I couldn't exactly tell if one was male or female but that didn't really matter. One was hovering just above the ground and his hair floated around his head, like gravity didn't exist. The other looked normal at first but out of the corner of your eye, he-or she- changed, it's appearance never stayed the same, and it didn't have a shadow.

I glanced at the Flock and almost laughed at their faces. For once Nudge was speechless and Iggy still looked confused but with a side of extreme annoyance.

My mind was racing. Instinct told me not to trust these people, but I didn't trust anyone but the Flock. From a life being the prey, I only knew to run from strangers, stay away anyone who could pose a threat.

The leader took a step toward us and I stood, Max in my arms. I backed toward the Flock getting ready to tell them to split, run for it. Times like these I ached for my wings.

"She needs help, Fang… yes, I know who you are. I'm Sym, and this is Electra, Zero and Frenzy" He nodded to the others, but still I stepped further and further back as he came closer. What would Max do? Doesn't matter what Max would do, it's what I have to do now.

"On the count of three" I whispered, my mouth barely moving but I knew they had heard me. Iggy rested a hand on Nudge's shoulder, Gassy grabbed Angel's hand. We couldn't fight these guys, I knew that. One they were older and obviously more powerful. We'd be annihilated in seconds.

"One!" We turned on our heels and ran- hard. We got maybe twelve feet before it felt like time slowed. I lifted my foot off the ground, but couldn't put it back down. The other slowly lifted and I was floating in the air. Max was weightless in my arms and turning my head I saw the others just hanging in thin air.

I tried not to enjoy being in the air again, but I couldn't help it. For a split second I just wanted to stay there. But that was over when the four freaks walked between our suspended bodies.

It was weird that they weren't worried about civilian's seeing them, but then again, Erasers didn't care much about morphing and coming after us in restaurants and other public places.

"Fang, Fang, Fang… you've got a good heart. Just trying to protect your friends. But we are not the enemy, kid" Zero said. I'm assuming that was him since he was "zero" gravity.

Max fidgeted in my arms and let out a sound that could only be in pain. It was half way between a scream and a groan. I felt her hand and my pulse soared. She was cold as ice.

"Sym!... she's getting worse, their not holding back on her" Zero floated away as Sym took his place. He checked Max's pulse and my jaw clenched. I hated him laying a hand on her, but there was nothing I could do. I was frozen.

What did that mean? Who?

He looked in my eyes and maybe it was the color or the emotion in them but I began to grasp just how serious this was.

"Let them down" Sym commanded and we dropped, landing on our feet. The Flock stood by me, waiting and watching to see what I'd do.

"What's wrong with her?" I asked, glancing down at her face. Since becoming Fang again, I noticed little things about Max I took for granted two years ago. And now, I couldn't get her out of my mind. The thought of her being seriously hurt- or killed- was almost too much.

"It's too much to explain now, you need to come with us Fang- all of you. I'll explain when we get there" After hesitating, I silently- and grudgingly- handed Max over to him. My body instantly ached to hold her again.

"Were exactly is there?" Full of questions. My whole life is just one big question mark. Never ending nonsense and confusion. It can really start to wear on a kid.

"The Anti- School of course"

Max:

"_If you hurt them, I swear Ari… I will kill you" I ground out through clenched teeth. My Flock's screams and calls were all I could hear. I felt heavy, strong arms holding me back, clutching onto my arms so tightly it hurt._

"_Oh, now I'm truly terrified. In case you haven't noticed, dear, I won" He signaled to the other Erasers, the ones holding my family back, and they were all thrown into cages. I doubled over when a fist landed square in the middle of my stomach._

"_Max! Leave her alone!" Fang. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him knock two Erasers to the ground in seconds flat. I smiled but knew there was nothing he- or I- could do. I hated to admit it, but we had lost. Really and truly. Ari had us, and I had let him slip through my fingers. _

"_Save it lover boy, Maxey'll be fine. I promise. Eraser's honor!" And with that, he punched me in the face, my head jerked to the right. I could hear Angel's cries and Iggy's struggles. I bit back tears as my heart shattered. I had let them down_.

_I was tossed brutally into a crate four sizes to small and thrown into a separate van, before the door closed I could just glimpse my Flock. Still fighting, scared and angry. I let the tears fall as I closed my eyes. Why did this sickening feeling in me tell me that this was the last time? How did I know I would never see them again?_

I woke up panting and sweating, sheets tangled around my feet. My mind was still fuzzy and images from my dream still filled my head. Dream? More like a nightmare. Anything with Ari's face in it has got to be a nightmare.

It took me four more seconds to realize… I didn't know where I was. Tacky floral wall paper covered the walls- visual assault- a pink lamp was balanced on a tiny white bed side table. The carpet was plush and cream colored. Any girl's dream room.

Any girl but me. I wanted to puke and I felt like the flowers were staring at me. And then I noticed the IV in my arm. I shot into a sitting position and moved to rip it out of my arm when there was a knock on the door.

Seconds later, a dark haired head poked in. Fang's eyes widened for a second but he came in, closed the door and sat on the corner of the bed. He studied me for a while, his eyes darted across my face before landing on my hand- still wrapped around the IV.

"Max.." He warned and pulled my hand away. I stared at him, flat out gawked. Was he not aware of where we were? It had to be the School right? Except… there were no cages, it was warm and comfortable, Fang was free to walk around and he looked genuinely… was that happiness? Or was he just content.

"Where are we?" I asked, suspicion rising. The hair on the back of my neck rose and I got a funny feeling. "Or should I be afraid to ask?"

"Promise you won't kill me. Then I'll tell you" He answered with a wry grin. I was so tired, I felt like I had slept for days so I would pretty much agree with anything.

"Promise. You will live to see another day… now, what happened?" He looked at his shoes. Was Fang nervous? That couldn't be a good sign.

"Well… do you remember anything? Like, passing out?" I shook my head, this was news to me! I glanced again at the IV. Was I in a hospital? Oh god…

Five minutes later, my jaw was hanging on it's hinges. My eyes bulged and I wanted to pound him to a bloody pulp. I don't think I had ever been this angry at Fang.. ever in my life. He trusted complete strangers with our lives! It didn't matter that they had actually turned out to be good… the point was that he just let them take us wherever.

"Max you said you wouldn't kill me" he reminded me when he saw my face.

"Yeah, well, I was crossing my fingers. I cannot believe you, Fang!" I almost shouted in his face. I tried to sit up fuller but the IV kept me constricted.

"Hey, I didn't know what else to do!... Max, they said you could have died"

"I don't care what they said… you shouldn't have just believed them. After everything we've been through as a Flock, you could have just thrown us to the sharks"

He looked at me with cold, angry eyes and stood. The air around us was tense and fuming. It seemed to me that just then, the room got a whole lot darker. Like the sky before a storm.

"I'd rather risk my chances than your life, Max. Next time I'll just let you die… would you prefer that?" Without another word, he slammed the door behind him. For the first time- maybe ever- Fang was really and truly pissed at me. And I was surprised at how much I hated having him angry at me…

I sat there for a few minutes, silently fuming and trying to process all the information. An Anti-School? Was that even possible? It still had the word school in it so how good could it be?

People like us… Wings? My pulse sped up a little bit. I was dying to get out of that nasty and nauseating flower room to see this place for myself. The way Fang described it, it seemed like rehab for mutants.

A knock on the door made me jump. I gave up thinking about, I'd have to see for myself then get the Flock out of there.

"Fang?" I called but I knew it wouldn't be him. The look in his eyes made me wonder if he'd ever speak to me again.

The door swung open and in walked a… person I assume. His skin was iridescent and shimmered rainbow colors. He looked like he was made from insect wings.

"Max… I see you're awake. I was coming to check on you when I bumped into your friend, Fang?" His voice was slightly hypnotizing. I nodded, dazed. " I'm Sym. I've met your friends, they're good kids, you did well raising them" Amen to that! I thought and smiled inwardly at the compliment. First time I had gotten some recognition for anything. It felt good.

I sat perfectly still, trying not to cringe when his fingers brushed my neck, checking my pulse. Sym huh? What kind of name was that? Not that I was one to talk with a best friend name Fang, and flock members named Nudge and The Gasman.

"Good… you're recovering well. You've slept for quite a while. I think your Flock will be happy to see you- well, except maybe Fang for the moment. He was furious out there" He chuckled as if having your best friend mad at you was funny and adorable. Well, Fang could fume all he wanted. I was still the more stubborn one.

"How long have I been asleep?" I asked and flinched. A second of sharp pain pierced my head.

Sym looked at me, debating on whether or not to tell me. Which could only mean it was bad, right? Adults only hesitate because it's bad. I was silently regretting asking. Finally he sighed.

"Why don't you get some more rest- there are some clothes in the draw over there, they should fit… we'll talk then. There's some news that you may find very important" And with that he left me there, still full of unanswered questions.

I pulled aside the blanket and tried to stand but automatically felt my knees cave and I flopped back down. My head started to thrum slightly and it steadily got worse. With every blink, my eyelids felt more and more heavy.

My head touched the pillow and that was it, end of story. That flower wall paper didn't even matter.

_I wonder if this place has room service, _I thought before finally drifting to sleep.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaiming that I do not own Maximum Ride here. James Patterson does. Sigh... REVIEW!!!!

Max:

When I woke up it was dark. My head felt heavy as I sat up and stretched to turn on the lamp. For a second I was confused- where was I? But slowly it came back. Flowered walls, fighting with Fang, and Sym.

Getting out of bed seemed like the most daunting thing I would ever have to do in my life, but with a sigh, I hauled myself up and out. As promised, there was a pair of sweats and a shirt folded neatly in the drawer of the bedside table. A little loose, but they'd do.

There wasn't a clock in the room so I felt like I was stuck in the Twilight Zone. Shadows flickered under the door, voices carried in.

_It can't be that bad. Whatever Fang got us into cannot be that bad. I trust him and if he says it's okay, than it is_, I thought, steeling myself for what I might find on the other side of the door. It took all might to admit that to myself and I'd never say what I just thought out loud.

The door creaked open slowly and I blinked in the blinding light, like a mole finally digging to the surface. I can't believe I just compared myself to a hairless rodent who eats dirt, but hey! It was the closest metaphor I could get to how I felt.

"-Go long!" I ducked as a football whizzed by my head and a body slammed into mine. A strong hand grasped my arm to keep me steady but I barely got to see who had hit me when he disappeared, replaced by a tabby cat. It ran off in the direction of the football.

The hall was crowded and filled with conversation and laughter. It sort of reminded of college dorm rooms you see in the movies. Guys throwing stuff- and hitting things- and girls walking along in cliques, giggling and gossiping. I stared with wide eyes.

Boy, did I feel out of place. I headed left, having no clue where I was going. Everyone looked like they were teenagers- some older and some younger- but mostly around my age. And they were all hybrids. Not avians, but there was definitely some DNA mix-ups going on.

A girl with pointed teeth and ears laughed as I bustled past her, a guy crawled along the ceiling. I caught pieces of conversation as I searched for the Flock. Something about flooding the lab… he had better stop reading her mind…. If he found one more hairball, he'd kill his roommate!

"Look out!" Some one shouted and I only managed to side step being torched to death by using my speed. I turned to glare at whoever had almost set me on fire and blinked.

"Sorry about that… I'm still trying to get the hang of this" He flashed a flawless grin, showing the perfect white teeth. His hair was spiked and went from black at the roots to fire red at the tips. His eyes sparked with flecks of orange.

_It should be illegal to look like that, _I thought before shaking my head.

"Well, try to hang of it on someone else, please?" I asked and turned, a guilty feeling in my stomach. My face felt hot, but I told myself it was just from the flames. My heart was still beating a thousand miles an hour.

"Max?... MAX!" My head swiveled in the direction of Nudge's voice. There she was, miss socialite, surrounded by boys her age. She waved me over and strangled me in a bear hug when I was close enough. "Oh Max! I'm so glad you're okay! We were worried sick!"

"Yeah, I can tell" I muttered but regretted it. Her shoulders had slumped ever so much and I smiled reassuringly. "I'm fine now Nudge… and I see you've been having fun. Where are the others?"

She paused and glanced around before grabbing my hand and waving to her groupies. I wondered how long I had actually been unconscious because it seemed like she had made a lot of friends in that time. People called out, waved, started conversations but she waved them off.

We pushed into a large room, like a cafeteria. Where there were even more kids, not as many as in the halls, but still. Enough to blow my mind! They were all like us- as Fang had said- experimented on at the School, chemically enhanced. I didn't even know there were this many experiments to begin with! Let alone, escaped from the School and… happy. Safe.

Everything I had ever wanted for my Flock was right here. I wondered how long it had been right under our noses.

"IGGY!... There he is, and Gazzy too. It's a good thing you're better. Those two have been setting stuff off all over" I fought a smile. Of course my pyros were doing what they did best, taking advantage of the fact that I was… incapacitated to create explosive devices.

Every pyromaniacs dream.

At the sight of me, The Gasman shoved something under his shirt and jumped up to hug me. Faster than lightening, I reached inside and pulled out a folded piece of paper. Blue-prints.

"Nice try, Gaz" I laughed and held it over my head when he jumped for it. The kid may be tall, but I was taller… for how long? I wasn't sure. Fang and Iggy were both a few inches taller than me, so it was only a matter of time.

"Man, Nudge… you couldn't have given us a heads up or something?" Ig complained but wrapped his arms around me anyway, grinning as he did so.

"Not like you could have seen it anyway, Iggy… don't take it out on me" She huffed and was about to storm off and be popular when Angel showed up in front of her.

I had to admit, it was a little freaky, Angel just popping up out of nowhere. It was kind of Children of the Corn-esque. Especially with her blonde hair and wide blue eyes. Nudge jumped about ten feet in the air and Angel cracked up laughing.

"Relax… I'm not invisible too!" She said and a boy appeared next to her. Dark hair and light eyes, he was adorable. The freckles just added to cute scale, but there was a glint in his eye that could only mean trouble. "This is Sniper"

"Cause I can see you, but you can't see me!" To add emphasis he what? Disappeared. His status dropped a notch on my cute scale.

So my whole Flock was there, but Mr. Mysterious. The one person I wanted to see, to apologize to. A twinge of jealousy sparked in me when I realized that he could have made some friends too while I was asleep…

Some female friends.

Fang:

I listened as Zero went through all the code names and operations for the control room panels. Every button, switch, notch, knob and screen had a purpose- too keep us safe and undetected.

The location of Chameleon's Tricks- the Anti-school- was so obvious it was top secret. CT was right under their noses, in the one place they would never think to look.

Right across the street. Disguised as a tattoo parlor.

At first, I wanted to grab the Flock and Max and go… it was too close to the School, too close to being caught and thrown into metal cages- again. But after a few days, I realized that it was genius.

I had spent most of time in the control room with Zero and Frenzy- who turns out to only be a 15 year old girl. Watching the screens, I witnessed everything that happened on the busy streets above and I even saw the occasional Eraser peek out from the underground.

The best was seeing Ari… totally oblivious that his biggest enemy was watching him. I grinned just thinking about it.

"Got it?" Zero asked every once in a while, making sure I was grasping what he was saying. I nodded even though, half the time? I wasn't sure if he was speaking English.

"Fang?" I turned and came face to face with Frenzy. Today she was a fragile looking girl with long blonde hair and dark eyes. She changes every day- sometimes a few times a day- but today was one of her better looks.

"Sym wants to see you… Max is up and he says he needs to speak to all of you"

Max. I understood why she had flipped out on me. Sure, she can be a psycho for no reason at times, but I didn't blame her. Had it been the other way around, I probably would have done the same…. Even though I'm not entirely sure we would have wound up in the same place.

After a week of not knowing if she'd ever wake up though, I didn't want her to start out angry at me. I hated having her angry.

"So, how do you like it so far?" Frenzy asked with a wave at her hand. It was dinner time so everyone was in the main Hall. The passages were empty as we walked to Sym's office.

"… It's different" I finally answered. As you know, I'm not exactly the talking type, but this place was changing that… Despite myself, I was opening up to people in a way that would have taken years for me feel comfortable doing. I treated everyone like they were a member of my Flock- not quite as open as being with the Flock but close- and there was still nobody I could really be myself with except Max.

"Shock, huh?... When they first found me and pulled me in I wanted to leave, be free again, you know? But every time I left, they watched, making sure I was safe and stuff… the fifth time they brought me back I realized… this place really was good" She sighed and her breathe blew her bangs out of her eyes, "So I stayed. There are hundreds of kids like us out there that don't even know about us… struggling and running. I remember what it's like and I'd hate to go back to that."

"Maybe they want to live on their own" I muttered. That's how I had always felt. I didn't need anyone, didn't want parents controlling my life. We had been fine on our own in the world. The Flock was family, and that's all we ever needed.

But even still, I knew she was right. Its hard to remember she's younger then me half the time because she acts like she's thirty and looks… well, that varies.

"Fang! Max is better now!" We rounded the corner and I nodded at Angel's statement. Oh I knew Max was better, my head still hurt from her rampage.

"See you later, Fang" Frenzy said before walking off in the opposite direction. My eyebrows pulled together for a second in confusion. I knew where Sym's office was, why had she walked me all the way here just to go back?

Max knocked on the door once as we fell in line. I wound up standing next to her up front by the door, waiting for it to open. A faint "come in" replied and it swung open. I watched Max out of the corner of my eye, gauging her reactions and trying to figure out what she was thinking.

Angel's voice popped into my head as we took our seats and I tried not to jump.

_She's thinking about you, silly!_

Max:

I should say it. Just suck it up and say "Fang, I'm sorry". It wasn't that difficult. People say the "s" word all the time, right?

Please, I'd rather eat freeze dried prunes than say s…so…see? I couldn't even think the words without gagging.

Sym's office was filled with warm mahogany wood. The desk, the walls, the chairs, the floor. It was all very oh- natural. If I concentrated, I could almost smell the marshmallows…

I could feel Fang's eyes on me as we waited for Sym to finish the last of a huge pile of papers. He looked every bit the swamped leader with his thin glasses and tailored suite. The only thing that set him apart was his un-human complexion. Iridescent.

Finally, after what felt like ages of fidgeting and avoiding Fang's eyes, shushing the younger kids when they burst out in nervous laughter and trying not to laugh myself, Sym took of his glasses and cracked his knuckles.

"So, here we are at last" Great starting statement. I already felt like I was stuck in some ancient prophecy movie. Where are the ninjas? I'm ready for 'em! "Now, all of you- except Max of course- know fairly well how things go around here, yes? Good. However, we have more important things to discuss today"

Too many Law and Order episodes caught up with me and a guilty feeling crept up my spine. Did I need a lawyer? I knew my rights. Without meaning to, I met Fang's eyes- a subconscious action that was as familiar to me as breathing. I flinched and looked away.

"We have known about the six of you for a long time… since we founded Chameleon's Tricks. You're the most famous hybrids alive, did you know that?" Sym asked. We hadn't and the thought threw me off. "I guess not… what that means is that, you are vital to our survival. You, as a Flock, are meant to do extraordinary things and I'm afraid none of that can be accomplished without your wings"

He said it gently, but I felt the Flock- as one- cringe at his words. Having it said out loud sort of finalized the one thing were trying to deny. It put the truth out on the table and I wished I could just shove it back in the draw it came from and throw away the key.

**What did I tell you about accepting the truth, Maximum? **Oh no… oh no, oh no, oh no. My hands balled into fists. It was back, did that mean another brain attack was on its way? If the last one had almost killed me… did that mean the next time it happened, death was a sure thing?

I was not going to be killed by a headache and a Voice.

_I'm not listening, I'm not listening, _I repeated the thoughts over and over, willing it to go away. Maybe if I couldn't hear it, it couldn't hurt me.

"What does that mean?" I asked, to distract myself. I noticed Fang eyes take on a worried gleam. Had he caught my mini freak out?

"Well… for over a year- since your minds were fist swiped clean- we've been working on a… serum. It will not only fully restore any lost memories, but…. Now, there are two options. Option A) will be painful but with definite results. Option B) still has a chance of success, but also a chance of having no effect at all. Understand?"

We nodded but I didn't understand what he was getting at. Would it kill him to get straight to the point? What could he possibly have to say that couldn't be said flat out? Okay.. so that was how I functioned, but I like to think all people should be like me. Blunt and honest and to. The. Point.

"I understand… but what are you talking about?" I asked and he looked at me as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. Well, I'd have him know it wasn't - and I know obvious.

"Getting your wings back, of course"

Yay! Review, and I'll make sure that whatever they choose to do works. They'll get their wings, if I get reviews! Mwuahaha...


	14. Chapter 14

Sorry this took a while to get up. Weekends here though so I'll get a couple more up. Review...please?

Max:

The Flock sat in stunned silence, gawking at Sym. Even Nudge was speechless. But the silence vanished in a split second just as anger boiled in my veins.

"DO IT!" The Gasman shouted, holding up his bare arm as if to say 'stick a needle in me, I'm ready'.

"Yeah.. I don't care how much it hurts!" Iggy added, hanging off the edge of his seat. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Angel cringe and curl up on her seat.

"How much _will_ it hurt?" She asked in her sweet, angelic voice. It was laced with fear and when I looked fully at her, a piece of my heart shattered. I met Fang's eyes over Angel's shoulder and saw the same anger I felt mirrored in his dark eyes.

It wasn't right. Getting the kids' hopes up for something I was pretty darn sure is impossible. Growing wings? Even us avian-hybrids hadn't actually been born with wings, they had been grafted into our DNA. We had been born full human. Then Itex got their hands on us.

And attaching wings was definitely painful. I'd seen that first hand. Ari was living proof as well. He still can't fly in a straight line. So option A) would be defective and option B) would be impossible.

**Nothing is impossible, Max**, I was getting used to that voice, though I was beginning to think it had always been there. Didn't stop it from being annoying.

_Good… so it would be possible for you to go away?_ I thought. It never answered a question directly and only spoke when it wanted to. If this really was a figment of my imagination, then my imagination needed some help.

Blinking, I came back to the present- ignoring Fang's curious stare- and looked at my Flock. They looked so happy at the news, so hopeful. Sym smiled over at them, his eyes glowing happily. He seemed like a genuinely good guy, but looking at him just then made me clench my teeth.

"Flock meeting" I grumbled and stood without another word, heading for the door. They filed out behind me, well trained by Maximum Ride.

"Do you think he means it, Max?" Nudge asked, her voice wistful. We stood in a close circle, shoulders touching. They all looked at me with wide eyes and even though I knew he was trying to deny and hide it, Fang was hoping it was possible too.

Maybe I didn't trust someone I barely knew to operate on me and- if you really thought about it- experiment on me. Bad experience called life. But what could be the harm in it? We could at least go with Option B). It may be a chance in the wing department, but at least our memories would be restored… I argued with myself as they waited, watching my reactions.

"I don't know, guys… " I said, still weighing the options. Do it, don't do it? I wanted with all my heart to go for it, get my wings back, fly! But I knew, in my heart of hearts, that if this great 'concoction' they'd been working on didn't actually work, the Flock, every one of them would be crushed. Flatter than a pancake.

"What's not to know, Max?! You heard him! I say we do it" Iggy said desperately and I cringed. They already had their hearts set on it. Even in his sightless eyes, I could tell what he was thinking about.

"What if it doesn't work? How would you feel then?...I don't think it's a good idea to get our hopes up for failure. We're fine now, right? We don't _need_ our wings" I knew I was lying even as I thought about speaking the words. What I didn't know was how it would affect Ig.

"Maybe you don't, Max, but _I _do! In case you haven't noticed, I'm blind, here! I can't do anything in the real world, nobody would let me! Don't let the blind kid touch that, he'll drop it for sure! Oh no, Iggy can't do that, he's blind!" Iggy fumed, breathing heavily. His arms were thrown up in the air. I'd never seen him like this before.

"None of us think that… you know that" I said gently. Iggy had flown the coop, gone off the deep end, lost his marbles and then some! He sighed in exasperation.

"I know that… but out there-" He waved a hand to encompass the world. "They don't know me. They don't know that I have sharper senses than even you guys… they don't know I can cook, build fires, build bombs, run 12 miles without breaking a sweat… I _need_ my wings Max, cause without them, I don't have anything"

I had to hand it to the kid. He sure could make a good closing argument. Lifetime had nothing on him. Glancing around, I saw Nudge looking at Iggy in a new light, her eyes slightly glassy, The Gasman gaped, his jaw hanging open.

My gaze connected with Fang's and that was all it took. He silently reassured me in that way only he could. A barely perceptible nod, a flicker of a smile, the light in his eyes. No matter what happened, we'd be okay. Wings or no wings, we couldn't be worse off then we were now. Right?

"Alright… let's go get feathered out"

LaTeR

Still Max:

Turns out they had pretty much known what our decision would be before hand. As soon as I smiled and nodded my pretty little head- _whoosh_- off to the operation room. But we had chosen- collectively, as a Flock- to go with the non- incision option. Scalpels are still a touchy subject with us- especially Iggy.

"You'll only feel a pinch" Said the nurse. I still shied away from her and her white jacket. Granted it was no floor length lab coat, but still. White is definitely not my favorite color.

And that pinch? More like a bite from Jaws. I bit down a yelp as tears stung my eyes. I wondered if it was too late to back out early, but I knew it was. This spectrum of colors was being pumped into my arm and I cringed, looking away.

Too many fond memories of Itex and chemicals.

The Nurse was nice enough, trying to make small talk, chatting away about something I could care less about. At one point, a spark flew out of her fingertips and into a small machine near the door. It sprang to life, gliding across the floor like a robotic vacuum.

"So… how long exactly, will it be before we know if this works or not?" I asked, fidgeting slightly in the chair. Boy, that band around my arm sure was tight… maybe a little too tight?

I shook my head, clearing my thoughts. This was not the School, Itex was not in control of me anymore. Her laugh was light and airy and reminded of the sweet old grandma going along with a child's game.

"Impatient?" She asked, smiling. No… not really impatient. More anxious and ready to flip out in this laboratory, but instead of saying that I smiled slightly and nodded. "We'll know in twenty four hours. Quick huh?"

My heart started to hammer in my chest as relief flooded me. I was nervous and excited and hopeful, a yearning so intense filling me from head to toe. Only twenty four hours left until I can fly again, leaving the small world below. Twenty four hours to see if it this would really work…. And if it didn't? At least the Flock's anticipation wouldn't have been built up too high.

"How will I know if it's working?" Another question. I hated not knowing things. It made me feel dependant and not in control. You know how I like to be in control.

"Well… I'm not the scientist, just the nurse, but on the tests we've run- which have all been successful- you won't feel the wings growing. They'll develop underneath the skin of your back. You won't even know its happening. After the twenty four hours- which is only due to your enhanced healing abilities- we'll bring you back in. The skin will peal away- yes, I know, details are slightly disturbing, but you'll have beautiful, new wings." She looked at me with sickeningly adoring eyes. It kind of freaked me out. Those wide blue eyes, so incredibly hypnotic and… _wide_.

I rolled my shoulders as I thought about what she said. Under the skin? That fact alone made my skin crawl as images popped into my head. Would I feel the skin peeling away? Would it be like a sunburn? I cringed just thinking about it.

"Whoa! Where do you think you're going with that?" I asked, straining against the arm band. The nurse had taken a step towards with a machine that looked like it could fry a dinosaur in seconds flat.

"How do you think we graft your DNA strands and chemically combine them with the regenerative DNA?" If that had been English I have may have spit out something sarcastic and witty, but as it is, I had no idea what that meant. My education was on the lacking side, you know.

"Um… wh-" Without giving me chance to put up a fight or even blink, she pressed the machine to my back, the metal making me shiver. It hummed against my skin, the electric current flowing into me. It actually felt kind of-

Not good! Not good, at all! I jumped at the sting I suddenly felt. The liquid being pumped into my arm turned a violent green. One spot, two spots… six spots on my back felt the reoccurring pinch of needles jabbing my skin. Like a tattoo, the needles flickered in and out.

"Wh-what is that?" I managed to ask between gasps. Was this what the Flock was going through? I bit down the anger that swelled.

"We're resetting the bones to fit the shape of your natural wings. The regenerative DNA combination with literally re-grow the ones you were born with, dear. Isn't it genius?" She seemed thrilled at the idea of modern science. Well, if she was so thrilled about it she could take my spot and experience it first hand.

I felt like reminding her that I hadn't been born with wings, I wasn't hatched from an egg- no matter how much Fang might like joke we were. Itex had molded avian DNA into mine, forcing my body to create wings. It had to be the one good thing to come from the School.

"Now, this may sting a bit" She said in that cheery voice I had just recently come to despise more than Ari himself.

With a blinding flash, a beam of light the color of the sky in spring shot out of yet another machine, this one with a variety of heads that all probably did different things. I eyed it suspiciously but didn't have time to process its path before the world- lab, machine and nurse- blacked out.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15:

Max:

The dull rumble of voices near by woke me up. Needless to say, I was not happy. My arm felt bruised from the where the needle had been and my back felt… odd. Not soar exactly, not anything bad. Just weird…

Sighing, I rolled onto my side, my thoughts flickering briefly to the Flock. Where were they? Were they okay? My head pounded too heavily to think about it too long. I'd find them when I was fully up.

"Psst… hey, you awake?" A voice whispered to my right. It wasn't one I recognized so it couldn't be the Flock. I thought about ignoring it but decided not to. Just my luck, he'd end up being like Nudge, never giving up.

"Now I am" I muttered and opened my eyes, blinking in the blinding light. I was warm and toasty in the sheets and the pillow under my head was unusually soft. Not that I'm complaining.

He was grinning at me, a grin I recognized. His hair was tipped with red but it wasn't spiked like last time. His arm was wrapped in a sling and there were cards stood up on the table between us.

"You again…" I groaned. It was pryo boy. The one who had nearly lit me on fire. I could only imagine why he was here. Glancing around, I saw other beds lined up. An infirmary.

"Yeah, well… it's fate I guess" He smiled and took a big gulp of water. I noticed how his Adam's apple bobbed with each swallow and shook my clouded head. Hormones.

"Fate never did me any good before" I sighed and pulled myself into a sitting position. I felt different, I realized. My head, my thoughts felt clearer and more focused. The effects of Sym's cure.

"What'd you do?" I asked, nodding to his arm. He glanced down, like he forgot why he was there, and shrugged.

"What didn't I do? I'm in here all the time. This is my designated bed… I was in one of the lesson labs and accidentally set a box of acid samples on fire? I tried to put it out and some spilled on my arm" He lifted the sling to show the bandages, rolling his yellow and orange eyes. Funny… I found myself starting to like the kid. He had spunk.

"I'm Max" I said.

"Chase" He answered with another brilliant grin. I could get used to those. The image of Fang's face flashed before my eyes and I shook my head, fighting a guilty feeling.

"A normal name? About time" I smiled and he opened his mouth to answer but got cut off. Instead he smiled and nodded behind me. Turning, I saw two of my Flock.

Iggy and The Gasman. They were dressed in blue and green scrubs, goofy grins plastered on their faces. They plopped themselves down next to me before launching into their whole experience. Being in the lab, the needles, the 'laser'- queue Gazzy mimicking Dr. Evil- and waking up in the Infirmary.

"You should see my back, Max!" The Gasman moved to pull up his shirt but Ig pulled it back down easily.

"Nobody wants to see you without a shirt on, man. Luckily, I never have to" He grinned, but it slowly turned into the most genuine smile I'd ever seen him show. My heart leapt.

After a while they left, joking and laughing, finally happy- for once. A twinge of jealousy and worry sprang up in me as I realized that I had never been able to give them that happiness. They were happy because of this place we were in. No matter how hard I had tried, I had never been able to make Iggy smile like that.

"They're lucky, you know" Chase said, watching me. I felt self conscious under his stare and fidgeted on my bed.

"How so?" I asked.

"They get to spend all the time with you they want"

Fang:

I stared at the reflection in the mirror. Craning my neck, I could just see the middle of my back. A perfect view. Adrenaline pumped in my veins, excitement making my nerves jittery.

Pitch black and sleek, my wings were re-growing themselves. I couldn't feel them yet, but my body finally felt balanced.

I slid my shirt back over my head and left the bathroom, the only place with a mirror I was allowed to use just then. I made my way back towards the Infirmary to check if Max was up yet. The twenty four hours was almost up and she had pretty much slept through it all.

Angel and Nudge were with the Nurses, observing and helping them with some stuff around the health ward. I ran into Iggy and the Gasman as I rounded the corner of the Infirmary and they told me she was up.

I ignored the weird way my stomach fluttered and the unsteady rhythm of my heart. She'd had that effect on me lately and I couldn't figure out my feelings. Max was Max. End of story. So why was I suddenly so…

I froze in my tracks. Max was awake alright and chatting it up with the guy next door. His hair went from black to red and his eyes were sort of yellow. I gritted my teeth at the way she laughed and smiled at him. I felt my mood darken a few shades and turned on my heel, heading back the way I came.

This wasn't normal, the way I felt. Jealous that she was even talking to another guy. Jealous? No, I wasn't jealous. What was I thinking? She could talk to whoever she wanted to, she was Max for freak's sake. Nobody told her what to do, least of me. Fang. Best friend, right hand man, second in command. Nothing more.

Those titles had been fine before, but why did I suddenly hate them? Without a second thought, my fist flew out and hit the wall. I cringed at the way my knuckles stung. That would leave a few scrapes… I really needed to reign in my temper.

Just then, the only person I wanted to talk to was the one person who had made me an offer. One that would give me a future, something to do with my aimless life.

I owed Frenzy an answer and seeing Max had made up my mind.


	16. Chapter 16

Sorry it's been taking so long to update. My computer has a mind of its own and i'm not too sure it's sane. Like right now. I can't really see what I'm typing so I'm gonna hope it's spelled right. To the chapter!

Max:

A few days of physical therapy and I had almost complete control of my wings. Flecked with brown and black, they looked like white canvas paper splayed with paint. Just like before.

I snapped them open and closed every once in a while, relishing the feel of having them. No more shoulder rolling, I never felt cramped up. I felt… balanced. Right. Better than I had in a while.

Fang and I had learned to fly the fastest. After only four days, we were back to our normal flight patterns. The Flock was having a little bit more trouble though. They were clumsy and uncertain, not really trusting their new wings… they had to remember that our bones are hollow, wings twice our size can definitely carry us.

Believe it or not, I was actually getting the hang of being around other people. Thoughts of Erasers rarely came up, though the occasional question of where the heck they were was always there.

However, at the moment, I was trying very hard not to strangle Zero- who hovered near the ceiling calling down instructions to me and the Flock.

"Good, Angel! Now, Max… try to fully extend the wing muscles. You should feel tension. Do you feel the tension? Nice Fang" I glared at Fang who looked back innocently, his wings working perfectly, his feet lifted slightly off the ground.

Grinding my teeth, I stretched my wings out to full length, the tips brushing Nudge's on my right and Fang's on my left. Oh, I felt the tension all right. My muscles felt like they were about to snap. And so was my patience.

"My wings work fine, Zero… We're ready to fly" I called up to him and the Flock added their own comments of support. Of course we were ready, we were born ready. Duh. So all this stimulation flight and physical therapy was really starting to wear thin.

"Not until I say you are. Extend 'em Iggy… at this level, any wind faster than 100mph will carry you guys away in seconds"

"When will we be in winds that fast? Just a quick little test flight?" So, my Bambi eyes didn't work quite as well as Angel's did, but it was worth a try. I didn't have any intention of actually listening to Zero, I'd fly if I wanted to, but the moral side of me felt it was right to at least ask. Right?

"No, Max. That's final"

For another hour, Zero bounced around in the air of our special made exercise room. It was the size of three football fields with padded walls for our safety- mine really, in case my speed got carried away- and rounded edges. There were special fans that were turned on to strengthen the bones and tissues in our wings against the wind, but they never turned them up faster than 75.

I was beginning to get restless in our new little mutant community. Sure, it was great and all. It almost felt like home. But that wild side of Maximum Ride just couldn't take it for too long. Which led to my plan. I wouldn't take the Flock away unless they wanted to- and I'm pretty sure they'd never want to leave- but that didn't mean we couldn't get out for a while.

We walked down the halls, tired and worn out with barely enough energy to fully tuck in our wings. We chugged down water faster than a hummer guzzles gasoline. I waited until we were almost at our rooms before glancing back to see if the coast was clear.

"Alright, listen up guys" They gathered around and the sound of my voice wiped away all drowsiness. "How would you like to go on a fieldtrip?"

"A fieldtrip?" Iggy asked, his shoulders slumping again. I guess I just wasn't exciting enough for the guy any more, what with his crazy new life of clean sheets and warm meals.

"Oh! Could we go to the Museum of Modern Art?" Nudge bounced on her heels and The Gasman stared at her.

"What is that?! Sounds boring."

"It is not. You're just not as sophisticated as me, Gazzy. It's okay, though. You can't help that your brain's so tiny-"

"Nudge" I warned, sensing a rant and smacked him playfully upside the head when he sneered at her. "I was trying to be sly about it, but that's not going to work, is it?"

"You? Sly?... that's like Nudge being quiet" Iggy snickered and I glared before remembering. Another perfectly good death glare wasted on the blind guy.

"Do you want to go flying or not?" It was pointless with the Flock. Trying to be inconspicuous. I loved them to death, but sometimes I wonder how I deal.

At that, they all started up talking at once. See? I still knew what my Flock wanted. More than anyone or anything. We were slowly falling apart here. It may not have shown yet, but I could tell. Iggy and Gazzy disappeared with a new set of pyro friends- including Chase who volunteered to keep an eye out for me. Nudge had her own cliques- yes, plural. Angel stuck by me, but I'd see her running around with different kids.

"Ssh… meet at my room at… 10:30?" I offered and the younger kids nodded, walking away with something new to talk about. A night flight might just be the thing to keep my Flock together. Hopefully.

I opened my door and felt that familiar creeping feeling at the back of my neck. Rolling my eyes, I waved him in without turning around.

"Come on in, Fang" He was another story. Where did he disappear to all day? Was it even daytime? Being underground for so long can really throw off your hours. I realized just then that I hadn't breathed real, fresh air in two weeks. I shivered as my mild claustrophobia settled in.

He sat on the edge of my bed, watching me kick off my shoes- provided by Sym- and slowly, that lazy grin spread across his face.

"What?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest, but I couldn't stop the answering grin I felt tugging at my mouth.

"How exactly were you planning on getting us outside?" Fang cocked an eyebrow. He'd stumped me, like always.

The grin vanished. I hadn't thought that far into the plan, I never usually did. I'm more of a split second decision maker. Even when I've been planning for a few days. Getting above ground would prove to be a problem, wouldn't it?

"Don't rain on my parade, Mr. Sensibility. I'll think of something" Fang's eyes smiled even if he didn't. He shook his head, stood and headed for the door. I took a half step towards him and froze. What was I doing? Some part of me was disappointed that he was leaving so soon… I wanted him to stay.

"I'm sure you will" He said and the door closed with a gentle _snick._

_Later:_

Black stealth clothes and quiet sneakers on, I sat on my bed, waiting. Dramatic? Perhaps, but I was getting into the right mindset for a little espionage. Despite the fact that we were here of our own free will, I didn't exactly want the Flock getting in trouble for my plan.

At exactly 10:30, I heard them. The urgent whispers getting closer to my door. Before they could knock, I swung open the door and stepped into the hall.

"Wow… I didn't know you were going as James Bond, I would have worn a bikini and been Halle Berry to your Peirce Brosnan" Nudge tried to keep a straight face and Iggy fought to swallow the laugh bubbling up. All the Gasman could do was hold up his hand and wait for Nudge's to meet his half way.

"Hilarious, Nudge. Really. So funny you can stay here" To make matters worse, I was blushing. I knew I was, cause Fang didn't quite know how to look at me. Whether to laugh or just stare. Since it's a sin in his book to show emotion, he just stared.

We weren't suspicious looking. Not at all. Six kids creeping down the relatively empty hallways of a secret hybrid organization looking for a back door to the open world. Forget the fact that we were all practically jumping with anticipation.

Angel led the way, reading for any give away. The further we got, the more anxious I became. My wings were practically itching with the taste of freedom. I could almost feel the winds rushing through my feathers. There was nothing better.

"Gotcha" Angel mumbled and lightly turned the handle of a very heavy looking steel door. I wondered why I had never seen it before…

It's one of the Tricks… You know- Chameleon's Tricks? There are loads of hidden stuff around here. Angel's voice popped into my head and I smiled down at her.

The door led to a long flight of stairs, leading up. A gust of wind carried down the scent of the city above. Cold air and roasted nuts. Pretzels and pollution. Ah, the real world.

"Ready?" I asked, but they were already pushing past me, eager to get to the outside world and the sky.

XxXxXxXxXxI was gonna stop there, but decided not to... okay, back to the storyxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Turns out I had the right idea with my "James Bond" suit. It was really only black jeans and a heavy black sweatshirt with wing holes cut out. The air may be ventilated down in CT, but up here, it was cold as ice.

The Flock's teeth chattered and they clutched to the last bit of body heat they had as I led the way through the streets, creating a mental map of how to get back. My plan was this- since getting out was so easy- find a deserted spot and take off. Piece o' cake.

"M-m-max… it's f-f-freezing" Nudge shivered. She was beginning to look a little blue.

"Really? How would you like that bikini now?" I grinned, but wrapped my arm around her shoulders anyway. I could too take a joke, no matter how much Iggy insisted I couldn't.

"Hey, Max! How's that?" I glanced back at the Gasman, a few feet behind. Blocked off by some trash cans and boxes, was the bottom rungs of a fire escape. My eyes followed it all the way- fourteen stories up- to the roof.

"Perfect" I said.

We clambered up the metal rungs, making as much noise as possible when the goal was to be silent as church mice. A cat shrieked, startling an answering one out of Angel, but we made it up undiscovered.

"Wow…" Nudge whispered, her breathe visible in the winter air.

The whole city was stretched out before us. Well, maybe not the whole city, but enough to leave a girl breathless. Sparkling lights from the street, cars, buildings, Christmas decorations. It turned the city into a glittering world. Closing my eyes, I took a few deep breathes of real, authentic air and realized how much I had missed it. It filled my lungs and sent shivers down my spine.

With a snap, my wings unfurled and the wind teased my feathers. It was finally here, the moment I had been dying for. Yearning. Fang appeared at my side, his own ebony wings extended, his equally dark eyes shining as brightly as the city below.

"Ready?"

"Born ready" Was all he said before dropping off into the air, free falling for three stories before his wings caught the wind and he rose through the air, silent and dark as night. And just as beautiful.

With a shout, The Gasman leapt off after him, his mud colored wings unfurling as he tumbled through the air. Iggy ran and canon-balled, disappearing for a while before suddenly rising and soaring after them. My boys were out, now the girls.

"See you in the clouds, Ride. Maximum Ride" Nudge laughed and took off. Nothing fancy for her, just a few flaps and she rose into the air, arms outstretched.

I held out my hand for Angel, but she shook her head, grinning. I kept forgetting she was two years older, the same age Gazzy was back when… this all happened. Angel wasn't exactly my little baby anymore, but that didn't mean I couldn't baby her.

"I'm not six anymore, Max" She said, her blonder hair ruffling in the wind. Her brother called her name and she waved to him.

"I know"

"But you're right…." She grabbed my hand. "You can still baby if you want- just don't tell Gazzy. He may get jealous"

And at the same time, we dive bombed off the building, head first. At the last second, we let go, stretched our wings and with a snap, we hurled up into the night sky, laughing the entire way.

For what felt like hours, we flew over the City that Never Sleeps. Weaving between skyscrapers recklessly but not really caring. Let them see us. It didn't matter. We were finally in the air, soaring through the clouds.

We were free. That's what it felt like. Freedom. Adrenaline pumped through my veins and I couldn't contain it all. I flew on my back, gliding through the air like a knife through butter. I had to admit, training with Zero had made my flying a bit smoother, more formal.

But I still had nothing on Fang. He was like a hawk, silent and steady, streaming through the dark. I had never realized how powerful he was till then. He flew with his eyes closed sometimes, his face a mask of complete calm. Was it weird, the way my heart fluttered at the sight of him?...

"I wish we could stay up here forever!" Nudge yelled, her arms thrown wide. She disappeared suddenly in a cloud and came out the other end, soaked through and scowling.

I laughed, twirling onto my stomach, looking down at the city. We had to go back soon, the sun would come back up in a few hours and Zero would have my head on a plate if he knew I had taken them out in winds that were definitely faster than 100mph. But, boy was it worth it.

"Max…" Angel flew beside me, a confused expression on her face.

"What's up, hon?" My eyes met Fang's and for a second I was dumbstruck. I had to shake my head to clear my thoughts.

"Something's wrong." She said and closing her eyes, I felt her presence in my mind.

Suddenly, images flooded my mind. It had to be what she was seeing. I saw the now familiar halls of CT, but there was complete chaos. My skin crawled at what I saw. Kids were using their abilities left and right, defending themselves. And I had a feeling as to who they were defending themselves against.

Next, I saw conformation of that. Ari's shining face popped up in front of me- snarling fangs and un-kept claws. A voice I recognized filled my ears.

"_Max… if you can hear this- Do not come back. We'll be fine, but Itex has gotten through our defenses. Stay away, do not try to help us"_ Sym's voice wavered and I realized it was his thoughts. Angel was tuning into his mind. I looked at the little girl with new eyes. It was scary how powerful she was becoming.

"… _find… Cra-… f-find him… Cr…Craven… Cal…find Craven in Cali… he will h-h-help… he will help you"_ And that's where the signal ended. Craven in California. That was Sym's final piece of advice? A lot of help that did. Good thing he wasn't Craven because then I'd be out of luck wouldn't I?

**Remember, Maximum… the key to the future lies in the past. A name is all you need to find a place. It's all in your past.**

I slowed my flight, half expecting what was coming and yet still shocked when it did. The splitting pain that threatened to shatter my brain, the intensely blurred vision and warped thoughts. My hands came up to my head, clutching for dear life and my wings tucked in. I felt myself falling… slowly but picking up speed.

And that other half of me was expecting what came next. The strong arms holding me tight, careful of the wings yet desperately clutching me. Before I completely passed out, I heard the _oomph_ of his breath leaving him and the quietly muttered comment I knew was coming.

"God, Max… you need to lay off the ice cream" Note to self: kick Fang later.


	17. Chapter 17

Review,review,review,review,review- not to be a nag or anything. And now that that's drilled into your heads, read on!

Oh yeah, just imagine that disclaimer- maybe its invisible, ooh...

Fang:

Carrying Max around was a whole lot easier in the air. Instead of my arms and legs getting the brunt of her weight, it was my arms and wings. I told myself that in the long run, I was building up wing muscle but that was pretty hard to do considering I was contemplating dropping her.

"Find somewhere to land!" I called to the others as Max thrashed in my arms. She squirmed and hit and I'm pretty sure there was already a black eye forming.

It didn't take long to find a building nobody could see on top of. In this city, architects were always trying to outdo each other, so it wasn't hard to locate one apartment building towering over the others around it.

Placing Max gently on the ground, she looked alright. Her pulse was normal, she wasn't turning blue. And of course, as soon as I'm not flying she's not thrashing. I sighed and sat back on my heels.

"She's fine" I said and the others all seemed to deflate at once. We needed a plan and since our fearless leader was incapacitated, it was up to me.

We can't go back to CT, Fang. Angel's voice floated into my head and I nodded, eyes closed. There goes one option. I wouldn't question it, Angel was a better source than Google for information.

The only thing to do was sit tight- and wait for Max to wake up. I couldn't carry her for very long and she'd kill me if we made a decision without her, so wait it was.

I opened my eyes and saw the Flock getting settled in, falling into the familiar way of things. Homeless again and most likely on the run. Was it sick that I was excited for my old life again?

Max moaned and rolled over by my feet and not for the first time, I wondered what was going on inside that head of hers.

Max:

"Yo… pass a power bar, if you please" Was that Iggy? Using manners? Maybe I was still dreaming after all. "Hey! I said pass a power bar, not a crow bar idiot!" Oh, nope. I wasn't dreaming, Iggy just lapsed into a moment of insanity.

Blinking, I opened my eyes, trying to adjust to the blinding light. My back was stiff and sore and I had a brief thought that my pillow had gotten really uncomfortable when I remembered. No more pillows, no more soft mattresses. Goodbye goose feather down quilt, adios to my scented sheets.

The voice of my Flock faded into hearing and I rolled onto my back. The sky was grey with storm clouds, the sun hidden behind puffy masses. A plain careened by over head and out of the corner of my eye, a helicopter buzzed between buildings.

I pushed myself into a sitting position, the gravel underneath shifting slightly. With a sinking heart, I recalled the images that had brought on my brain attack. Erasers storming the halls of our temporary home, Ari's face sneering at me, and Sym's voice warning us against coming back… And of course that barely audible message about finding Craven in California. I hoped it didn't have anything to do with Hannah Montana. That would be too much to handle.

"She's awake!" Someone shrieked and before I could react, thin arms threatened to strangle me.

"Jeezums… was it that bad with Fang in charge?" I asked, gasping for breath. Nudge stared at me with wide eyes and I glanced at Fang who shrugged and went back to his newspaper. I noticed a few new additions to our Flock. Two backpacks, tags crumpled on the ground, about fifty granola and energy bars- and about fifty more wrappers- water bottles, a first aide kit, and….

"Is that a fire extinguisher?" I asked and before I could snatch it, Iggy placed it squarely behind his back, patting it protectively. "Where did you even find that?" Didn't matter how he got it, I already knew how we had come by all of this stuff. Stolen, every last bit.

"I have my sources" He said cryptically and pretended to stroke his mustache. Three guess as to what that's for. At least he was prepared for the impending disasters he'd create.

We sat for a while as a Flock. Wings and all this time. It had been two whole years since we'd last flown together and we were still buzzing with the excitement of it. That is, until Nudge asked the question on all our minds.

"So, what do we do now, Max?" They looked at me- their faithful leader- with eyes so trusting and familiar.

"Well, one things for sure. We can't go back to where we were" I said and thought of Chase for a second. I had only known him for a few days, but he might have turned into a friend. I'll miss him for a day or two.

"Does that mean we can do what ever we want? Go wherever we want?" It was a nice thought, I had to admit. Gazzy looked at me hopefully and I could just imagine what was running through his head.

"I don't know, Gaz… maybe" I smiled but it was fake. We'd never be able to do what we wanted, not in a sense. They'd always be after us, like right then. Ari and the Erasers had come so close to catching us because we had let our guard down.

I had been debating what Sym had said, or had thought but thought to me. California. How did he expect me to find somebody one guy in California? That would take years! And how did I know it wasn't a trap? One we weren't even likely to find, at that. But then again… we didn't have anything to lose, right? And we needed to get away from New York- soon. The Erasers were getting closer and closer to pinpointing us.

So where did that leave me?...

"What would you guys say to a trip to California?"

Fang:

Has she lost her mind? Or what's left of it. Where did California even come from? Maybe she just ran her eyes along a mental map of the U.S. and stopped when she wanted to.

California… talk about coast to coast.

Of course, they all flipped out over the word- not even the actual fact that we were going there, but at the word California. Nudge's eyes glassed over as she probably thought of Hollywood and celebrities. Iggy and the Gasman were most likely thinking about blowing up the Hollywood sign then going to look for Arnold Schwarzenegger's house. Angel just sort of bounced up and down in a weird representation of joy?

"When can we leave?" Was the where all their questions were leading to. When and how long till we get there?

"Hmm… well, since all the flights out of Newark are canceled, how about right now?" Max said and her face lit up in one of her priceless smiles. I had to remind myself not to smile too.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18(sorry for the wait, grrr)

Max:

"Rice Krispy Treats have got to be the greatest food on this planet… I mean, they're so sweet and gooey, but you bite in and there's that crunch and it's like 'Surprise!'. Extra deliciousness!" To emphasize her point, Nudge took a huge bite of her last money splurge. She smiled as she chewed and I rolled my eyes, angling my wings against the wind so I drifted toward Fang.

"You're being extra quiet today" I said to his closed eyes. He flew in total silence and peace and I knew I was cramping his style, but I needed his calm reassurance just then.

"I'm always extra quiet, Max" He peeked at me through one eye before closing it again.

"Not true… you're just quiet and moody, but today you're extra quiet, less moody" I bent the tips of my wings and my feathers caught the wind just right to send me spiraling through the air. Way down below, the state of Pennsylvania hurtled by, all open land compared to New York.

"Really? You're just nosy and loud, but today you're extra nosy and extra loud" I faltered mid stride and stared at Fang. Seemed a bit harsh coming from him. I would have taken it personally and not spoken to him for the rest of the day if I hadn't picked up that tiny twitch at the corner of his mouth.

"You are so lucky I know you so well, other wise, you would have really gotten to know Pennsylvania dirt" I said and my wings brushed his lightly as I rose through the air toward Iggy. I glanced down just once at Fang and was knocked almost breathless. He had flipped onto his back and smiled brilliantly up at me- a smile I had never seen him wear. And I was the only one to see it since Iggy… you know.

I blinked and it was gone, Fang's face a mask of perfect composure. My heart was still hammering though, the blood rushing in my ears, and my mind two steps behind what I was feeling.

Day two of traveling and I already missed my bed back at Chameleon's Tricks. They spoiled me there- and it's never a good thing to spoil Maximum Ride. My hair had always smelled like strawberry shampoo, my clothes were always clean and folded. Now? I already had stains on my jeans, my shoes were scuffed up, my hair was a mess and my back was sore.

I tucked in my wings, dropping several feet to dodge a cloud. Rain cloud or no, you always came out drenched if you got caught in one. Above me, a heard a shout and just saw the Gasman disappear inside the cloud, reappearing seconds later- soaked. I grinned.

The Flock didn't know why we were going to California- well, Angel did of course, but that couldn't be avoided. I don't know why, but I didn't want to tell them just yet. Fang would freak out- literally- at the knowledge that we were going somewhere to look for some guy we didn't know anything about. In fact, he was probably cursing me right now.

I could just hear his thoughts- Stupid, Max. Dragging us across the country cause she feels like it! I feel like disappearing into the shadows of the world, but do I? No!

Okay, so Fang may not think like that, but you never know. I certainly don't. For all I know, he could have a secret obsession with Care Bears or pink socks. Glancing over at him, I highly doubted he had an obsession with pink socks, but the Care Bears are always a possibility.

"Max!" Angel scream pierced through the air and I whipped around, straining against the wind. She pointed behind us, about 200 feet. Seven tiny dots made their way steadily closer to us.

"Ari…" I muttered and looked to Fang who was already a step ahead. There were three options- Run, which would not work. Land and fight which would give him the advantage or Fly and fight which… well, duh.

Without a word, the Flock fell into a rough formation. Angel up top with Gazzy and Iggy below her, Nudge under them then Fang and I. Funny how stuff sort of works out that way.

We flew as fast as we could but they still gained on us. For clumsy, annoying, not meant to exist freaks, they were fast. Not as fast as me though.

"Keep flying!" I called to Fang and before he could object, I turned heel and sped back to the Erasers. One closest to me let out a yelp, startled at the way I suddenly appeared like a "maximum" surprise. I effortlessly reached out and clamped my hands over his ears making him cry out and plummet to the ground.

"Max, was that necessary?" Ari sneered in fake disapproval, but I could tell he was having difficulty flying and talking at the same time. Or flying at all actually.

"Here… let me help you with that" I said and in an instant I was behind Ari, hovering over his wings. I reached and grabbed a few feathers, tugging sharply. He pulled up short with a shout and I was yanked away by fat, hairy hands.

I whipped around and my foot connected with a snarling muzzle. There was a deafening crack and the Eraser fell. There were still five of them. Hands grabbed at me from all sides and just like that I was surrounded. Ari glared at me with so much anger I was surprised his head wasn't turning red and blowing up like a balloon. It was filled with hot air like one.

"Gotcha now, Maxi" He glared at me and reached out a hand, wings still fluttering ungracefully, struggling to keep himself airborne.

I braced myself to do some special avian martial arts, but before my eyes, Ari dropped through the air with a very wolfish howl. Without skipping a beat, I spun and knocked another Eraser unconscious- with one punch. When I turned back around, Fang was in Ari's place, not a hair ruffled, his eyes about twenty shades darker than pitch black.

Together we finished off Ari's little posse. It wasn't difficult. In fact, I think it's more painful to listen to Nudge sing. The remaining erasers took off, retreating the so obviously lost battle field.

Up ahead, the Flock circled the air, waiting for us. Fang flew beside me and I could tell he was angry. I didn't let it bother me and would have let it go if he hadn't spoken up. For the first time in his life.

"You shouldn't have done that" He grumbled and I blinked.

"Done what?" The tips of my light wings brushed against his dark ones and it sent shivers down my spine in a not altogether unpleasant way. I really needed to sort out some things about him.

"Just went on your own" His teeth were clenched and he wouldn't look at me. Though I'll never willingly admit this out loud, I didn't like having Fang mad at me. It left this sort of… oh, it's too hard to explain. I said I had some stuff to sort out.

"There were only seven of them, I was fine" In the beginning I had been, but I had to admit. It was getting a little tight there before Fang popped up.

"So you just let them surround you?"

"Maybe I did… all part of the plan" He glared at me, his dark eyes flashing. So, my wonderfully witty personality wouldn't get me out of this one. I wasn't going to apologize, that was just too much to ask for, so we flew the last few feet in tense silence.

By the time we made it back to the Flock the fight was forgotten, Fang was still mad, and I had this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Over all, a good turn out.

"I got to say… that was the single most cool thing you've ever done" The Gasman said, doing back-flips in the air. It made me dizzy just looking at him.

"I'm glad someone thinks so" I answered with a pointed glare at Fang who rolled his eyes and flew ahead.

* * *

Bad Ending, yes. You can tell me that in a review. The button's right there just waiting to be clicked- but don't actually tell me how bad it was. That might hurt my feelings and then I'd cry. And you do not want to make the writer cry, right? 


	19. Chapter 19

I love weekends. Loads of free time for writing chapters and-hopefully- posting them.

Max:

To say the least, camping out is one of the Flock's favorite past times. It's a favorite because its sort of necessary? Its not like we can waltz into the nearest Hilton. So while Fang started the fire, Iggy and Gazzy tried to inconspicuously hide their scheming and the girls played checkers with rocks, I leaned against a tree and- dare I say it- relaxed.

Though it was freezing out, the slight breeze felt good against my skin. Refreshing. On the outside, I was peaceful and calm, but on the inside, questions whirred around in my head.

Why would the School send only seven Erasers after us? A bunch of genetically advanced avian-hybrids? It just seemed so unthreatening and ineffective. If anything, they should be sending out helicopters, SWAT teams, Erasers and heck, other mutants to get us because that's what it would take. That's how much it would take to capture us again. Not seven pathetically untrained rookies.

_**Perhaps it's meant to distract you.**_ That Voice said. I grimaced and wished it was possible to beat a voice to a bloody pulp.

_Why would they do that?_ I thought, not expecting an answer but hoping for one anyway. It never answered direct questions, didn't contribute to a conversation- though it was apparently listening in on all of mine.

But I thought about what it said… distract us from what? Maybe it had just been a test run, another experiment. Or could they have been trying to make us think that's all they had to throw at us… to keep us unprepared for an even bigger attack. To keep us idol and lazy and overly confident.

_**Well, look at that. She's beauty **_**and** _**she's brains. **_

I ground my teeth and opened my eyes. Turns out the Voice has a sense of humor as well. Lovely. A movement on my right made me jump and I sighed when I saw it was just Fang, eyebrow raised. Was it weird the way my heart suddenly sped up around him? It had never happened before but now it happened all the time. I ignored it.

"God, Fang. Spot the creep" I said breathlessly. I hadn't even noticed how dark it had gotten.

"I was beginning to think you had gone into a coma" He picked up a stick and mindlessly picked at the dirt by his feet. "Had to make sure you were breathing"

"Well, now you know. I'm alive and kicking" And so was the fire. The flames rose high into the air, random sparks floating around before landing on the ground and vanishing. The Flock had started the granola bar party without me.

As if reading my mind, Fang placed two in my lap before tearing open one of his own. He was fighting a grin, that same muscle twitching. Sometimes I wonder if it would kill him to show even a hint of emotion.

"Thanks" I mumbled grudgingly and dug in to what had to be the most deformed health bar ever. It crumbled in my hand, squished from Fang's bag. Beggars can't be choosers.

Fang had first watch that night, like every night. The kids settled down, curled up in a row by the fire and Fang took his post against a tree, one leg bent at the knee. When I was sure they were asleep, their breathing even and measured- Gazzy's snoring was a good sign too- I sat up and crept over to sit next to Fang.

"Keep an extra ear out, okay? I've got a bad feeling" I kept my voice low so I wouldn't wake Ig. Fang's eyes never left the fire but he nodded slightly.

"Well… aren't you going to ask about it?" I whispered after a pause.

"Why? You're the boss, Max" He didn't watch his voice, he didn't care and I wondered what had gotten into him. It wasn't like him to act this way. I mean, sure he had his sarcastic moments but this Fang I didn't know.

"What does that mean?"

"You tell me what to do, and I do it. Simple as that, right?" Fang finally looked at me and underneath his perfectly composed expression, his dark eyes flickered.

"Wrong, Fang. I don't tell you what to do. You're-"

"Second in command, wing man, best friend. Yeah I got it. But that's all I'll ever be to you, Max" Why did I have the sudden feeling I had walked into a hurricane? This is not what I had bargained for when I came over here. I looked at him in stunned silence, not sure what to say. What was he saying?

"I…" My voice trailed off, confused and slightly irritated at the way Fang had been acting lately.

"Don't have anything to say. My watch is up. 'Night, Max" And with that, he stood, brushed off his pants and went to lie down next to The Gasman. I watched him go- eyes wide and brain working way too slowly.

All he'd ever be to me? What did that mean? Fang was my best friend, the one person I trusted most on this whole big, bad world. Behind his tough exterior, he was funny and shockingly charming. In that pain in the ass kind of way. What more could he be to me?

_**Think about it, Max… first comes friendship then comes?... **_Two visits in one night. What could make me so lucky? And it was giving advice, which was even better. My own personal Dr. Phil.

_Best friendship? _I thought but already knew what it was hinting at. That couldn't be what Fang had meant though. We were practically related, we were that close. It would just be sick and twisted and…

And why did some corner of my mind secretly wonder what it would be like? Why didn't I cringe away from the thought, like I should? Looking over at Fang, a sudden fondness washed over me. His arm was slung over his eyes, the other resting on his stomach, his dark wings fanned out under him. I realized I was smiling slightly and shook my head.

Sick. Confused. Torn. That's how I felt just then, half of me turning away the thoughts of being Fang's… and the other opening up to it, embracing it. It was so sudden and uncontrollable that I knew there was nothing I could to get rid of them. I had fallen to hard already and it took me this long to realize it.

Tearing my gaze away from Fang, I looked deep into the fire in front of me as the one inside of me flared to life. Brighter and stronger than this one that could burn me.


	20. Chapter 20

Alright, the moment you've all been waiting for. FAX! But there's only so much I can take per chapter so here's a starter. Don't forget to review por favor. Bueno!...Buena?

Chapter 20:

Fang:

She keeps looking at me. Not that I mind, but it's beginning to weird me out a little bit. Every time I look up it seems like Max is watching me, which is funny because when she's not looking, I'm doing the same thing. But still, I hate the feeling of always having a pair of eyes on me.

"You know what, Fang. You need to loosen up a bit. Do a little dance, make a little love- or wait, no. Leave that part out. You're not the lovey dovey type. So, just dance. That works" Nudge was twirling and skipping around the campfire, singing a song nobody but Nudge knew and talking about things nobody seemed to care about.

Didn't stop her though.

"In my head, I'm dancing" I said, poking a burning log, sending sparks flying. Gazzy's eyes flickered up from his blueprints for just a second to watch.

"Yeah, sure. And Max's favorite color is pink… oh, aw" She pouted when I doused the fire with water. The sun was coming up and we'd be leaving soon. Getting an early start, as always.

Actually, it had taken about twenty minutes to wake up the kids, so to say we always had an early start would be like saying Donald Trump's hair wasn't cool. What can I say? You just have to stop and wonder how it gets that way.

I glanced at Max and for once she was watching my every move. I think it's just compulsive, not something she thinks about doing, which pretty much describes everything Max does. She was watching the sun rise up over the horizon, elbows on her knees, back against a tree. The sunlight made everything almost pinkish.

The fire was still smoking so I grabbed two canteens and drifted through the trees to shallow stream near by. I grinned to myself when I noticed Max watch me walk by.

Max:

I waited about two minutes- exactly two minutes, I counted- before standing up to follow Fang. My heart was in my throat and I couldn't really hear with the blood pounding in my ears.

"I'm gonna help Fang with the water" I said, but they weren't paying much attention. A nod, mumbled acknowledgement, and flat out ignoring. Gotta love kids, right?

For winter, it was oddly calm in the woods. The trees weren't thick and it was easy to walk around without getting lost. In fact, five minutes later, I could still see the Flock's tiny silhouettes. The sound of rushing water was getting louder. Early morning birds chirped and everything was the color of the rising sun.

If I was a romantic, I might have said it was beautiful, but I'm not so… to me it was just peaceful. I could almost forget about the School and the worries that came with being Maximum Ride.

Following the same path as Fang, I came up behind him, startling him as he capped the first canteen. His eyes flickered over me from head to toe as a giddy nervousness took hold. Why was I there again?

"What are you doing here?" Exactly what I was thinking, Fang. He looked at me like I was asking him to wear a tutu and nail polish.

"Helping you with water and stuff" I said. Stupid, stupid. And stuff? What other stuff could there be to help him with?

"Its two canteens, Max. I'm pretty sure I can handle it" Fang's hair fell into his eyes in that annoying cute way as he turned to fill the second one.

"Yeah…" Boy, did I feel stupid. Four days ago, I didn't think twice about Fang, but now, he was almost always on my mind. Sometimes, I'll blink and find myself watching him- not in that creepy stalker sort of way, but in that way that's more like memorization. I was memorizing everything about him- the stuff I didn't already know by heart.

"You want to help? Here" Fang tossed me one of the filled canteens and I barely caught it in time. His eyebrow rose in question but he let it go and lead the way back to camp.

I felt like I was 9, trailing after the boy I had a crush on in class. Only I wasn't sure it was a crush. I wasn't even sure if I knew what I was feeling, just that I was feeling something. God, hormones are annoying.

"So, why'd you really follow me?" Fang asked. Where did that sudden talkative side come from? And why did he have to ask that question?

"How do you know I was following you?" He shot me a look. "Maybe I was just taking a walk"

"Whatever, Max. I'm just glad you did" Looking at Fang, there was something in his eyes I hadn't really seen before. They weren't so dark, so shielded. I felt myself falling and I didn't mind.

"You were wrong, you know" My voice was almost a whisper and I was afraid I'd have to repeat myself. Twice to humiliation. But good old Fang's hearing is a little better than most. My throat felt like it was closing and I might choke.

"About what?" Without meaning to, we had started walking slower, taking our time getting back. His arm brushed mine with each step sending little shockwaves through my body.

"About you only being my best friend" I stopped and he turned to face me and I knew he understood what I was talking about. "You're more than that, Fang. I can't explain it, but I know you're not just second in command… not anymore at least"

And just like that, something changed between us. We didn't move, didn't say a word, but the air just shifted that fraction of an inch that said everything. Fang just stared at me, eyes steady holding mine, almost as if he wasn't sure what he heard was right.

I wasn't sure if what I said was right. Did those words really just leave my mouth? Oh god, I felt like I was going to be sick and Fang's staring was not helping. My legs felt like jello- the lemon kind- and I stumbled.

Fang dropped his canteen and caught my arm, keeping me steady, like he always had- since that first day in the lab. Watching my back while I covered for him.

"Whoa…" He said, and I'm not sure if it was at me almost falling on my face or my little confession of whatever. His eyes searched my face and I suddenly realized how close he was to me, a breath apart.

If I thought my heart was beating before, now it was throbbing. Almost aching. Blush after blush crept along my face but for some reason, my ego didn't care. I was full on hypnotized by Fang's proximity to me.

"Whoa." I whispered and not caring about what the Flock would think, what Fang would think, what I would think, I kissed him. Not on the cheek, not on the nose, not on the forehead.

I kissed him and for one sickening moment, he froze and I was afraid he'd pull back leaving me even more embarrassed than I was at the fact that I actually placed my lips on his. But he didn't. His hand left my elbow and tilted my face up for a better angle. His other hand wound around my waist, pulling me closer, tighter. Fang's lips were warm and soft, moving against mine in dizzying motions. My eyes drifted closed as my fingers ran through his hair, securing his face to mine.

Forget the fact that the Flock was less than two minutes walk away, forget that Itex was sending hairy erasers after you, forget there was a voice in your head constantly giving you cryptic messages that you couldn't even begin to interpret. Forget everything but me and Fang, best friend turned… everything. And all we'd said was "whoa".

But amidst all that kissing, a scream echoed through the trees.

* * *

Yikes, cliffy! What'll happen next? I'll update as soon as I can- probably tomorrow unless I decide to study for my spanish exam. As you can see from way up top, I need it. Adios. 


	21. Chapter 21

Sorry for the wait.

Chapter 21:

Max:

We flew apart, breathing raggedly, eyes wide. Its safe to say that he was feeling the same I was, bewildered and shocked. Did that really just happen?

His wings opened with a snap and he took off through the air towards camp as I ran with all I had. I could hear the struggles and shouts and in seconds, I was in the middle of it. Fang landed a few feet away, diving into the fight.

"Max!" Angel shouted and I was at her side in seconds, driving the Eraser to the ground with one solid kick. They were everywhere, landing every second, the whir of helicopters above whipping my hair around my face.

With one quick sweep of my eyes, I located my Flock. Iggy had a bloody nose, his eye swelling purple and blue. The Gasman and Nudge had about six Erasers on them, coming from every direction.

This was bad, way bad and it shouldn't have happened. I should have been there instead off kissing Fang and other pointless stuff. Angry at myself and the Erasers, I threw my all into combat. A few managed to get in a kick or punch at me, but I dealt out twice as much I got.

I held one Eraser by the ear, drawing back my fist for a solid punch- and hopefully cramming his nose into his brain- when a hot, meaty hand landed on my shoulder, pulling me back and almost knocking me to the ground.

"Pick on someone your own size, Max" Ari growled in my ear, his voice low and gravely. It sent shivers down my spine and made me want to take the longest shower in history.

"I would, but you'd never fit into my jeans. Have you called Jenny yet?" It was hard to breathe with his arm around my throat and I'm not sure he heard me, which is probably for the best because I don't think his self-esteem could take another hit.

His arm tightened and for a second my vision splotched, but- with a sick feeling in my stomach- I bit down, hard, on his hairy arm. Ari howled and loosened his grip giving me room to maneuver. I grabbed his wrist and in one swift motion, flipped him over my head, onto his back.

I kicked him once in the head, grimacing at the sound it made and left him. Fang had really made a dent on the conscious Erasers, nearly half of them moaning on the ground. I guess its all that pent up blatant hostility. For a second, his eyes flashed to mine and I cringed at the blush I felt creeping along my face.

_Angel?_ I thought and the little girls head turned towards me. She ducked and her leg whipped out, knocking a snarling deformity to the ground.

**Yes?**

_On the count of three, I want you run straight into the woods, doesn't matter what direction, just run. After thirty seconds, take off, straight into the air. Got it? Tell the others._ We had to get out of there while we had the advantage and without Ari, those goons were hopeless. They only knew how to take orders, not think of some on their own.

I watched as the Flock received my message, via Angel Instant Messaging- AIM. Nods, wide eyes, either way, they all got it and counted in their heads. One… two…

After two, we all turned heel and ran, dashing through the trees, leaving behind confused Erasers who after a second took off after us. One, two, three, four…. Maybe thirty seconds was too long. I should have made it ten. Why thirty anyway?

I could see Iggy on my right and ran over to him, taking his sleeve gently, guiding him. Seven, eight, nine, ten…. Another flaw in my plan- how would I know if one of the kids got caught? My stomach sank but I shook it off. I'd know, somehow I would.

"Come on, Ig" I murmured and I'm sure he would have glared. I was trying to keep pace with him, but my anxiety kept inching me forward. My thoughts flickered to Fang guiltily, wondering if he was okay. Twenty one, twenty two, twenty three….

Glancing behind me, a snarling Eraser tripped over a stray root, sliding face first into the dirt. Serves him right, the creep. Thirty.

At the same time, Iggy and I opened our wings and shot directly into the air, our arms coming up to cover our heads against the branches. Only ten o'clock in the morning and already it was off to a great start. Just a typical day in the life of me.

A few feet over, Nudge hovered in the air, looking down into the trees. The Gasman appeared from all the green, whooping in victory. Fang bulleted up into the sky, an Eraser holding tightly to his ankle. He kept going up and up, disappearing in a cloud and seconds later, the Eraser came howling down. But where was?...

"Max!" Nudge shrieked, pointing down and my heart started pounding. Suddenly, I was zipping through the air and then plummeting down into the forest, where Angel was being crammed into a crate.

"Let her go" I commanded, my voice steely and cold as ice. The Eraser conducted the whole thing turned and sneered in a perfect imitation of Ari.

"Or what?" Oh, he had comebacks like Ari too, lovely. I wondered if they're trained in verbal battle.

I didn't answer, just clamped my hands over the guy whose sweaty paws were wrapped around Angels waist, trying desperately not to get kicked by her flailing legs. He dropped her like fire and fell to his knees, whimpering pathetically.

Like the good girl she is, Angel leapt into the air, vanishing into the sky and freedom. I moved to follow her but a hand anchored me to the ground, pulling me back down. There were only three erasers left- the temporary leader and his two whipped cronies. When he said jump, they asked how high. And he wasn't even Ari, tsk tsk.

One round house kick to the jaw, a solid elbow to groin and all that was left was the Mr. Commander. I had to admit, he was better at fighting than Ari. Ari always let his anger towards me get in the way and that's what got him, but this guy didn't know me, he just had a job to finish.

"Give up, girlie" I swung and he dodged, grabbing me elbow and pinning my arm behind my back in a sharp twist. Tears stung my eyes but I shook them off.

"Girlie? You obviously don't know who I am" I gasped as he bent my arm back even more, threatening to break it. There was just enough room to open my wings and with a powerful gush, they snapped open, sending him flying backward.

"It doesn't matter who you are" he grumbled as he stood, his clawed hands curled into huge fists. He glared at me "Its who you used to be, cause you're practically dead"

"Oh, now I'm really scared. Shaking in my ten dollar boots" I said with a grin and I honestly thought he would charge me, like any other hot-headed eraser, but his hand fumbled at his belt and I froze. My blood ran cold.

"You should be" He growled and pointed the gun at me. I was sure he wouldn't miss, not even if I ran. His gaze was as steady as his hand and a wry grin spread across his face. My gaze flickered to my left as I thought about taking off, but he chuckled. "Uh, uh, uh. No flying for you… no speeding away either. I've been practicing" he winked and I felt nauseous.

Okay, so worst case scenario, he shoots me and I die. Best case scenario, he shoots me and I live but in severe pain. I also probably wouldn't get far with a bullet wound and I know he wouldn't hesitate, so even my best case scenario isn't that good. Or he misses but how could I be that lucky?

The Eraser took a step towards me, slow and steady like a predator, and cocked the gun. The _click_ made it seem that much more real and my heart started to pound like crazy, reverberating in my rib cage.

My life didn't flash before my eyes, no pearly white gate and angels singing- though that may have been nice, a bit corny but still. A soundtrack to death. Instead, all there was a loud, echoing, blood chilling **boom!**

But the bullet never hit, no searing pain. My eyes opened- I realized they were closed- and I saw the Eraser look at me, stunned, before falling to his knees, then his chest. My eyes wide and breath unsteady, I lifted my eyes slowly and there he was.

Just hidden by shadows, Fang stood, arm raised and gun barrel still smoking.

* * *

aw, Fang killed for Max. Cayute. Review if ya want. I'll get the next chapter up tomorrow, really. and i just realized that this chapter was relatively long... oops! 


	22. Chapter 22

I'm super sorry for the wait. I just got my laptop back and I posted as soon as I could. The next time I can update is wednesday so please don't kill me! A billion sorry's in advance.

Max:

For a second, time stood still as I stared at Fang and Fang stared at the dead Eraser. Then, with a jolt, he dropped the weapon in his hand and shook his head, eyes unbelieving. An overwhelming wave of emotions rushed through me, enough to make me dizzy and I shook my head too, unsure what to say.

"Fang?" I finally found my voice and he looked up at me, processing my face, accessing for gun shot wounds. When he saw there were none, he nodded, sighed and shook out his wings, turning his back to me. "Fang, I-"

But he took off, without looking back, a silent dark streak lifting into the air. With one final look at the Eraser, I cringed at the dark puddle around him and followed, confused and anxious and worried.

The Flock flew in silence, still edgy from the morning fight. Fang refused to look at anyone, to talk- but that was normal. What wasn't normal was his dazed looks, his clouded dark eyes. A storm was raging inside of him and all I wanted was to hold it back.

_**Give him time, he'll see that it was inevitable. **_The killing that Eraser, that's what it meant. But it wasn't inevitable. I should have been stronger and faster, able to take care of it on my own without Fang having to shoot someone! Even an evil someone. The guilt was almost too much.

"Now leaving the wonderfully boring state of… um… where were we again?" The Gasman switched from mimicking one of those automated voices to his own in seconds, looking at me with a puzzled eyes.

"I don't know, Gaz. We'll get a map next time we stop, okay?" my voice was a sigh, almost wistful. They didn't know about what had happened, and I'm pretty sure Fang wouldn't want them too. My eyes wandered up to his dark, lonely form. He flew several kilometers above us, brooding.

"Keep on course, guys" I said and caught a draft, rising through the cloudless sky to fly next to Fang. He ignored me, or maybe he couldn't see me at all.

For a second, I flashed back to me and Fang…you know. I didn't regret it, if I was being honest, I actually enjoyed it. Not just because I had some hyper teenage hormones, but because it had been Fang I was kissing.

"I had to do it" Fang's voice snapped me out of my reverie. His voice was strained and hoarse. The closest thing to emotional he'd ever gotten. "If I didn't, he would have…. I mean, I- would you have done it, Max?"

"I don't know… probably" I answered quietly. Fang had never seemed so vulnerable, so young. That simple question made me realize we were only sixteen. His eyes left mine, looking off into the clouds.

"Probably is not a yes" God, I wanted to say yes. Tell him anything to lift that burden off his chest, to see his eyes gleam wickedly dark like they always had. But I couldn't. I tried to convince myself that I would have done it. The thought of firing off a gun, especially one pointed at somebody, just jolted my body.

"I would have if he was aiming at you, or the Flock" I said, hoping it was good enough. Fang looked at me, really looked and I felt like he was looking through me and I knew it wasn't nearly enough.

"No… you would have found another way. Crept up behind him, distracted him, hell, maybe even have taken the hit for one of us" He shrugged. "I just panicked. Didn't think, just acted. It was stupid"

Surprisingly, that stung. I winced at his tone, so cold and spiteful. Did he think it was stupid saving me? If he had thought first, would he have fired at all? I noticed the black backpack he carried and knew where he had gotten the gun in the first place. He went back to camp to get our stuff and grabbed one just laying there.

"I'm sorry you had to… you know" I mumbled, my cheeks burning, a lump in my throat. God, how humiliating. When did I turn into such a… such a _girl._ Next, I'll have the urge wear pink nail polish and do my hair.

"It wasn't your fault, Max. I'm the one who fired" Fang glanced at me, eyebrows drown together and an unsure smirk on his face. "You thought I was sorry I saved you? Max, that's even more stupid. I'd never let anyone hurt you…even if it means doing something I really don't want to. As long as you're okay"

Would it be bad if I fell right out of the sky? Just dropped head over wings? Probably, but I'm sure he'd catch me. Every time. Not only were those the most consecutive words Fang had ever said- which alone is enough to make someone die from shock- but it also meant Fang cared about me. Really cared, about my general well being and everything.

"Hey, Max! Fang! Look!" The Gasman called and reluctantly, we looked away from each other, down to our Flock and the world way down below. It was snowing, big deal right?

Have you ever seen snow fall from above the clouds? Didn't think so. But if you ever get the chance to, take it. It's like pressing your face against a giant snow globe, the big puffy white snowflakes drifting down to the tiny people inside. Cars whizzed by on some big highway, lights turned green while others changed to red and down came the snow.

It coated the world in white, but it didn't touch us. Not saying we're above you or anything, but technically speaking? We've got a leg up on mother nature.

"_If I could go anywhere…"_ After a minute, I glanced at Fang, who of course could care less about the snow.

"Did you say something?" I asked and he shook his head.

"_If I could go anywhere in the world"_ There it was again, husky and wistful. And it was not the Voice, that much I was certain of. The Voice sounds more… snooty than anything else.

Shaking my head, I figured it was just be my active imagination. At least, I tried to convince myself that was what it was, but I knew I couldn't be so normal. A voice in my head, wings, an evil organization hunting me down? I'm kind of incapable of being surprised anymore.

However, the searing pain that suddenly pierced my brain took my off guard. My head felt like it was being carved in two, the usual sign of a Voice Invasion. But before I could give Fang a heads up, my eyes were fluttering closed and the memory was already playing.

"_If I could go anywhere in the world, it would have to be like, San Francisco or Monterey or something. I hear there's a huge aquarium there" He looked at me with his sea glass colored eyes. I knew him from somewhere, I was younger though. Maybe ten… he was two years older, on the outside at least. He acted like he was thirty. "What about you? Max?" His voice was the like the tide, like the sea crashing on the shore. A gentle murmur that could easily lull you to sleep. It had worked on me before. __I never got to answer, two white coats came in with armed guards. No erasers yet. They came later. Craven looked at me, his webbed fingers clutching the bars of my crate as they tried to pull him away. Fang's eyes were wide next to me. "Don't give up, got that? If I don't come back, don't ever give up… be there for each other, got it? Bye, kid" He never did come back…_


	23. Chapter 23

Okay, these last two chapters have kind of been just random babbling chapters. Here's just some fax and then I'll move on with the story. Like, plot wise? I'll update soon.

Fang:

It _was_ hard to get used to. The thought of killing somebody. So, I may have been defending someone I cared about, but that didn't make the image of the Eraser's body any less vivid.

"She up yet?" Iggy asked. Nudge and The Gasman were fighting-again- and Angel watched, laughing her blonde head off.

"No" I glanced at Max, who had once again threatened to fall out of the sky. It's like she's a got death wish she never asked for and I've been assigned personal life saver.

"Man… well, they're hungry and there's a gas station a few minutes away. That cool?"

"Stock up, we're running low" Iggy took that as a yes and off they went.

Secretly, I was relieved they would be gone for a while. I didn't have to imagine their reactions if they found out what I had done. Would they hate me? Be afraid of me? My blood ran cold at the thought.

They had been gone less than five minutes when Max moaned and sat up with a gasp. Her eyes were frantic as she looked around. God, she's beautiful. I know that word is outdated and people rarely use it to describe other people, but there's no better word to pin to Max.

"Craven!" She said, as if it were the answer to everything. The name sounded familiar, just on the tip of my tongue.

"What?" I asked.

Max turned to me and her lighter eyes locked on mine. It came back in a flash, the memory of a person I had never expected to hear about again. He's been dead since I was five.

"What are you not telling me?" She looked around, trying to find a way to change the subject. Immediately, the lack of Flock members set her off but I was one step ahead. "They went to get food, now what about Craven?"

Max sighed that 'I'm-giving-up' sigh and I knew I had her now.

"He's the reason we're going to California. Am I right?"

"Jeez, why do you have to be so perceptive?" She snapped, throwing a few daggers my way, but I grinned them off in that way that annoyed her so much.

"I'm not- you're just easy to read" I said and she rolled her eyes. In that second, I realized how alone we were. Just me and Max… alone.

"Angel relayed a message from Sym telling me to find Craven in California" She put air quotes around it and shrugged. "He said he'd help us"

"With what?" I asked. It's not like we can't take care of ourselves- for the most part. There's the occasional couple days without food, but still. Not exactly desperate call for action.

"No clue. I couldn't even remember who he was till just now" Max sighed for the billionth time in a minute and rolled her shoulders, looking every bit the overworked mother. "I really hate the Voice"

Without thinking- which I seem to be doing a lot lately- my hands wound up on her shoulders, working out the kinks. I should have been mortified- completely embarrassed- but I didn't care. Max had a funny affect on me lately.

She relaxed, just a bit, before going completely stiff, shoulders squared. I took that as my queue and pulled my hands away.

For a long minute, we sat in incredibly awkward silence- me thinking about what she was thinking and her looking really confused. Finally, she turned to face me, slowly, her eyes coming up to meet mine.

"So, are we going to talk about this?" Max asked quietly. I thought about playing dumb for a second, but she'd never buy it.

"We should" My minimal answers always pissed her off, which is why I give them, but this time, those two words were all I could think of.

"Yeah…. But I'm gonna need some help, because I got no clue what's going on. It's like one day I woke up and there you were, same old Fang… just different" She flashed one of those split-second grins that sent my pulse racing.

"Different how?" I wanted to mentally beat myself to a bloody pulp. Why could I just tell her how much I cared about her? How much I loved her?

"You didn't look like a brother any more"

Max:

Why couldn't I just shut my big mouth up? The words just kept spewing out like a fountain of humiliation. Everything I had been keeping inside and trying to sort out was now being spread out in the world and I'll probably never hear the end of it.

Looking into Fang's eyes, like I had done a million times before, I saw something that had up till recently never been there. Once again, like word vomit, the words just tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop them.

"I think… I _know_ I'm falling in love with you" It came out like a question, knocking Shakespeare's right out of the park. But it was true, as true as a statement like that could be at sixteen.

The look Fang gave me made it that much truer and boy, did I blush- to my horror. With no apparent planning or coordinating, we inched closer together, sliding our bodies over until I could probably sit in his lap.

With no Flock or ambushing Erasers, we were totally alone and it sent my heart drumming out an unsteady beat, thudding against my rib cage. Fang's hand came up and cupped my cheek, cool against my warm skin. Mine linked behind his neck, pulling his face down to mine. His breath was warm on my face as he leaned closer until finally- finally- contact.

This kiss was different from the first one. I can't exactly say how, but I could feel it. That first kiss had been hesitant, testing the waters before diving in. We just dove. Who cares if the water's freezing? He can warm me up. So, the Flock might see us. We can't help human nature, can we?

We eventually broke apart, short of breath and breathing heavy. Fang's lips were swollen and I could still feel them moving against mine. Like a phantom limb, I wished he was still there.

He pulled me into his chest, wrapping wiry arms around me. So, this is what I was missing, huh? I melted into him, breathing him in. I couldn't believe this was Fang, of all people. I wanted to write his name in hearts. If he had a last name, I'd have tagged it to mine.

"I mean it, Fang" I whispered, my voice muffled by his shoulder. He rested his chin on my head and I felt him nod, his arms tightening for just a second.

"Took you long enough" And one last time, before the Flock barged down on us, he kissed me. Quick and warm and sweet.

* * *

Review! Please? 


	24. Chapter 24

Gosh, I am soooooooooooooooooooo sorry it's been taking me forever to get chapters up. I've just been busy with school and guitar and a whole bunch of other things that have nothing to do with this. So, here's that chapter I desperately owe.

Max:

You know it's a good day when you can't find a reason _not_ to smile. A normal day in the life of Maximum Ride is filled with worry, anxiety, fear, sometimes anger- often anger- and a whole bunch of other non-happy emotions. So, when we finally flew over that California border and the sun was shining, the kids weren't fighting, and Fang flew by my side- with an unusually happy expression and a secret smile just for me- I was relatively happy.

You could maybe even say ecstatic? I was just thinking that the Flock could really use some nice long showers, maybe a haircut or two, when the helicopter showed up.

"Uh… Max? Are they supposed to be filming us?" Nudge asked, looking over her shoulder. I took a second to note that those were the least amount of words she had ever spoken in her life before following her gaze.

There it was. Black and sleek, blades whirring and sending the treetops swaying. Big bold letters on the side read Channel 7 News- Real News for Real People! It cut through the air like a shark, gaining on us.

"Get out of the sky, now!" I said and like ten ton bricks, we dove out of the air, tucking in our wings then snapping them out at the last second so we wouldn't go _splat!_ How would that be for real news?

The neighborhood was full of expensive mansions, gated communities, and mostly deserted streets- the occasional BMW whizzed by. With homes like those, I'd never go outside either, not even to get the mail.

Unfortunately, I don't have a home and there was a news channel with a tape that would be out in the world in less than an hour that could possibly make my life even more of a mess. The chopper hovered above us, moving in careless circles.

My hawk-like vision easily picked up the flash of the camera lens.

"I have to get that tape" I mumbled and rocketed back into the air. Behind me, I could just hear Fang say "Here we go again"

_**Careful of the blades, Maximum.**_ Said my Voice, cause decapitation is no joke.

_Ya think?_

It got harder to stay in a straight path the closer I got to the helicopter, the extra wind pulling at my wings. That little conceited part of me hoped they captured my good side-which would be all sides-, while the rest of me gained some mild amusement at the looks on their suntanned faces.

"Zoom in! Zoom in! Get those wings!" One guy with freakishly large sunglasses shouted and I rolled my eyes. They could zoom in and out as much as they wanted, I was getting that tape, not their producer.

There were open side panels, allowing me to see straight through to the other side and supplying a quick and easy escape. I got close enough, timed my entrance and- watching the blades- shot through the inside of the chopper.

It swerved with the sudden added weight and the three men- not including the pilot- flung themselves against their seats, eyes wide and mouths gaping. I smiled and reached for the camera.

And couldn't open it to get to the freaking tape. Well, crap. There was no eject button, no little film slot. So I did the next best thing- I took the entire thing. The man with the big sunglasses didn't seem to like that much.

"Y-you can't have that!" He blurted out and his eyes widened even further at himself.

"I can… and I will" I felt a little bad that they were afraid of me. I wasn't that scary- when I was happy and not looking at Ari or in a cage. In fact, I bet they'd really like me- in another life where mutant bird kids aren't in hiding and big shot television people really gave two shiatsus.

"Thanks fellas" Grinning, I hoisted the entire camera- and stand, they were like attached with super gorilla glue!- and jumped out into the air. I dropped sickeningly quick cause of the extra weight and my stomach lurched up into my throat but I made it down to the ground in one piece.

"You know… Angel could have just made them give you the tape" Fang looked at me with one eyebrow raised, arms crossed over his chest.

"True… but my way was more fun"

We wound up at side-of-the-road motel, where drug dealers are your next door neighbors. Five to one vote though so I didn't really have a choice. If the man in the lobby wasn't bad enough, the other people lurking around definitely were.

"Okay… remind me not to ask him for directions" I mumbled to Fang and he almost grinned back. His entire body was tense and his eyes were alert and I knew he hated this just as much as I did.

"Here we are!" The Gasman called from a few doors down and he took the key, slid it through and when the green light flashed pushed open the door, Nudge hot on his heels.

It wasn't as run-down as I would have thought. No broken mirrors, chipped paint, swinging light bulbs, stained carpet. It was actually really clean and decent. And the best part?

"There's hot water and plenty of it so you're all taking showers! Angel, you first" I called and in she skipped, shoes already off. "Use shampoo _and _soap. I better see you spotless" I kissed the top of her head and closed the door behind me.

Nudge and the Gasman were jumping on one of the beds while Ig lay sprawled across the other. "Be like Iggy, chill" I said and they dropped onto the bed, mischievous little grins saying that as soon as my back was turned they'd be doing it again.

Fang sat at the desk graciously provided by Sunshine Inn. He already had the camera off it's stand and was studying all the buttons. The little red light was flashing.

"Any luck?" I asked and he rolled his eyes, almost smiling.

"Cake. And guess what? There's still film left" He swung it around to the flock and said "Smile, your on Fang Cam"

"Omigosh! That is so cool!" Nudge ran over, posing dramatically in front of the lense. "Hey, how come it's just 'Fang Cam'. If anything it should be Max Cam cause she's the one who got it… or like, Flock Cam would be even better cause it's not just you, no matter how much you might think so, Fang"

I laughed, Fang glared, Nudge kept ranting and Iggy was oddly quiet. He had turned on the television and sat in stunned silence.

"What's up, Ig?" I asked and looked at the screen. Oh, cripes.

"…mysterious winged creature was spotted just this morning in an urban community by our air crew. While it is unclear just _what_ this thing may be…." It flashed fuzzy, blurry pictures on the screen of something too large to be a bird and way to small to be a plane. With canvas white wings and streaks of brown, if I squinted, I could just make out my combat boots.

Oh, cripes again.

**_Welcome to California, Max._**


	25. Chapter 25

Ooookay. Reviews would be awesome!

Max:

I sat up, bleary eyed and with a killer headache. Not a Voice headache, a self induced one. The early morning sun streaked in through the curtains and I blinked, flinching at the new type of throbbing head pain.

Picking my way over the sleeping bodies of Nudge and Angel, glancing quickly at the boys' bed to see if they were sleeping soundly, I tiptoed towards the bathroom.

Just as my hand clasped the knob, the door swung open revealing a very clean- and shirtless- Fang. Gulp.

"Oh… sorry" I mumbled and slid aside. My mind was still fuzzy from dreamland- or nightmare land in my case- which is probably a good thing. It kept me from gawking at Fang's half nakedness.

"Don't be" He said and I caught a whiff of soap as he stepped closer to me. My head cleared just a bit to notice his proximity. His hand slipped under my chin, tilting my head up to his and his lips brushed against mine for just a second. "All yours"

All mine? Like he was all mine or the bathroom was? Any left over drowsiness evaporated at his touch but before I could drag his face back down to me, he was at the other side of the room, sliding into his usual black shirt.

The hot water loosened up my muscles for the day, easing the pounding off my skull. The water glided over my wings, leaving them sleek and shiny, but not great for flying with for about an hour.

I closed my eyes and let everything from the past day come back to me. Re-arranging my thoughts into something mildly coherent and less frantic than they always are first thing. And that's when I remembered.

"Great" I sighed and clambered out of the shower. I quickly dried off and slipped my clothes back on, finger combing my hair before just letting it hang around my shoulders.

Fang was gone when I came out of the steaming bathroom and the Flock was still out cold. The clock on the table read 6:30. I decided to let the kids sleep in, they looked so peaceful when they weren't talking.

_**Good Morning, Maximum. Sleep well?**_ Not even half an hour and it was already gracing me with its vocal presence.

_Not that you care_, I thought. My hand hovered over the power button on the television but I decided I didn't need to see another snapshot of me in the news.

So, instead, I went to the curtain and peeked outside. I love it early in the morning. When the air is still crisp from the night before and the sunlight seems new and extra clear. The weather was warmer here and I could hear the caw of birds in the air. No snow clouds or rainy days in this part of the U.S.

Fang was making his way across the parking lot, shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He had a grocery bag in one hand, a can of coke in the other. I couldn't stop myself from smiling at the sight of him, so calm and cool and handsome. Why had it taken me so long to notice that about him? Why was I only just seeing what every other teenage girl had seen?

_**Because not every other teenage girl grew up with him.**_ I rolled my eyes and let go of the curtain. Of course not every other teenage girl grew up with him! They weren't all shoved into cages the moment they popped into the world.

"Got you a Twix" Fang closed the door slowly so it wouldn't wake the Flock. He can be so sweet sometimes I don't think he even realizes he's doing it.

"Nothing like a good, balanced breakfast" I said and leaned against the wall under the window. He sat down beside me and opened his bag of goodies.

"You got that right" He pulled out a few muffins, some granola bars, two Snickers, my Twix, some big water bottles, and… "News spreads fast"

Fang plopped a newspaper in my lap, a magazine falling on top of it. There, blown up with a caption that read "Friends or Foes?" was me, a heavy camera slung over my shoulder.

So, _I_ knew it was me, but to any average person on the street, it could just be a big bird, photo shopped or animated. I ground my teeth as I read the paragraph underneath. I was either A) an alien B) an impressive stunt or C) some new species unknown to man. Wonderful.

"Oh, God…" I muttered, my head in my hands.

"Hate to break it to you, but your also on the internet and the radio" I looked up just long enough to glare at Fang who looked back with a grin.

"You are so not helping right now" I said.

My day could only go from bad to worse at this rate. I was still mentally smacking myself for not thinking yesterday and at any moment, I was expecting Ari to come busting through the door or the FBI or something!

But nobody came pounding on the door. No cages or cameras or guns. Just Fang's hand, slowly trailing circles in the middle of my back.

My head leaned against his shoulder and his arm wrapped around my waist. I made myself not think about the mess my life would be for the next few days. With big, deep breathes, soon I could almost fall asleep again.

"You still falling in love with me?" Fang's voice was a whisper in my ear and it sent a trill up my spine.

"More and more everyday" I whispered back, my eyes fluttering closed.

"I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that and take a shower" My eyes snapped open and there stood Iggy, hair standing on end, shirt twisted around his neck. He padded to the bathroom as my face turned beat red.

Oh, God… oh, God, oh, God, oh, God! Fang's shoulders were shaking and when I looked up, wide eyed and totally embarrassed he was smiling- full on, not holding back smiling. It was like a second sun had just come up.

"You knew he was there didn't you?" I snapped and he caught my mouth with his.

"We'll have to tell them eventually. Why not start small?" He cocked an eyebrow and I grimaced. He knew me too well which is not always a good thing. But he had a point. Angel would either see it my head or hear me thinking about Fang and go tell Nudge who would announce it to the world.

And the more I considered it, I didn't really mind Iggy knowing about me and Fang being a bit more than best friends. If I knew him as well as I thought I did, he'd have already put the pieces together.

The sound of the shower running suddenly cut off and there was a crash from inside the bathroom. My body went rigid as I sat bolt upright. Iggy burst out of the bathroom, his head just poking out of the neck of his shirt.

"Do you hear that?" He asked and I wished he could see my face. Nobody could hear as well as him. If a pin dropped in Guam, he'd know.

"Uh, no-" But then the sirens flared to life. Red and blue lights filtered through the window, bathing everything in color. The kids were startled awake, rubbing their eyes and yawning.

"COME OUT NOW. IF YOU DO NOT COOPERATE, WE HAVE A WARRANT. WE WILL BE FORCED TO TAKE ACTION" Lifting the curtain to peek outside, my stomach dropped to my feet and the air felt suddenly colder.

_**Think Fast.**_


	26. Chapter 26

Finally! The chapter I owe you guys. I'm soooooo sorry it took so long. Bad case of writer's block. If you're feeling generous, review for me and I'll update as soon as I can. I promise, promise, promise on my copy of Maximum Ride.

Max:

"Wha's goin' on?" The Gasman asked, his curly hair standing on end. He slipped out of bed and crawled over to the window, keeping low like we'd always practiced.

There were at least nine squad cars fanned out below in the empty parking lot. The parking lot Fang had been casually walking through not even an hour ago. The men in blue crouched with their guns pointed up in our general direction.

"Whoa… that's like, not good is it?" Nudge knelt beside me, peeking under the curtain at the scene below.

"No, that is definitely not good" I said. There was an overhang outside our door so no quick up and away until we hit ground level. The bottom of the stairs were blocked off by a pair of cops each side so that wouldn't work.

While I was debating on whether or not we could manage to kick some police butt without any serious gunshot wounds, a sleek black limo pulled up behind the row of blue and white cars.

Fang and I glanced at each other before putting our attention back to the limousine.

A man in a suit walked around the front, coming to the back door like he was driving the president. He opened the door, holding it wide and I swallowed the lump rising in my throat.

The first thing I noticed were the thick rimmed glasses, balanced on the tip of his nose in that way that had always annoyed me. His blue eyes were piercing as he catalogued what lay before him and his graying blonde hair rustled in the slight breeze. One of the officers handed him a megaphone and he raised it to his mouth.

"Max, it's okay. You can trust me" Jeb's voice was that cool, aloof one that he used with other scientists. There was no "Maxi" this or "Maxi girl" that. He was cold and distant.

And I didn't trust him for a second.

"Wow, don't remember that being in the papers" Iggy mumbled by my ear and I said "It wasn't"

"Now, come on Maximum. Don't make this difficult. This is for your own good" My own good my feathers! My hands balled into fists at the sight of Ari appearing from the depth of the limousine.

Looks like Daddy Dearest didn't have as much faith in his son's capturing skills as he used to and judging by the look on Ari's face, he wasn't happy. But why get normal, everyday police involved in something that was most definitely over their heads?

"You can't stay in there forever, dear" Jeb announced. Oh now he was trying to nice way. Well, it wasn't going to work.

"Everyone, get packed up. I don't care who sees us, we're getting out of here" I turned from the window and dragged on my combat boots, worn down and apparently on every newspaper and magazine.

The Flock bustled around, throwing food and clothes into backpacks and pulling on their own sneakers.

"Any plan?" Fang asked. He slung the camera I had swiped across his back then adjusted his bag on his shoulder. All signs of the gentle Fang from five minutes before were gone, replaced by my second in command.

"When I open this door, take off. Between the banister and the overhang, just go" I said. I threw some extra hotel soap bars in Fang's bag- always thinking ahead- and slid my arms into my coat.

The Flock faced me, dressed in under two minutes, alert and ready for action. Jeb's voice was still droning on outside, like an annoying little bee you just can't get out of your ear.

"Ready?" I asked and they nodded. Iggy placed a hand squarely on The Gasman's shoulder, Nudge shook out her wings. "Then let's go"

"-make this harder for yourself. Just come with us and I promise that you and your friends will be well taken care of" Jeb was saying when I opened the door. He was putting on a show, I realized. Acting the part of concerned politician when really, I bet he was just dying to let Ari get a hold of me.

The look on his face was priceless when I stepped up to the banister- a mix between surprise and smugness. My wings snapped open and a few cops faltered, momentarily stunned into lowering their guns a bit, but they recovered quickly, and aimed again.

I am really getting sick of people pointing guns at me.

Angel hurtled by on my right, narrowly missing the roof of the overhang and shot into the air, closely followed by the Gasman and Nudge. Iggy waited, measuring with his ears how far apart the space was before getting a running start.

The men below didn't know what to do. I'm sure they hadn't been expecting a bunch of kids- winged kids at that. So when Fang, and finally me, rocketed into the morning sky, they just stared.

Mesmerized. I grinned- we tend to have that effect on people.

"Max… that was very foolish" now Jeb sounded angry, though he was trying to hide it. "You could have just come easily and without any problems"

"The only problem I'm having is with your voice" And of course, since I'm me, I couldn't just fly away and avoid confrontation. I swooped down, making a few officers duck, and snatched the megaphone right out of his hand.

Ari snarled and stepped forward but Jeb stopped him. I flew way up high and threw it as far as I could, watching it disappear in the distance. A few shots fired from below, causing that energized rhythm of my heart that feels more like a buzzing in my chest.

I know what you're thinking. This could have been a quick, easy escape, right? No erasers to come flying after us and no helicopters- just a bunch of mundane men in blue. California's finest were no biggie compared to a normal day in Flock life.

So why, when that typically hairy hand slammed down on my shoulder, did my vision suddenly blur? I whirled around, prepared to fight, and came face to face with Ari- but there weren't any clumsily grafted black wings peeking over his lumbering shoulders.

"New and improved" Ari smirked and his sweaty palm locked around my wrist.

Normal reaction to Ari touching me- Ew, gross! Clammy hands! New reaction to Ari touching me- Wow… why does the sky look so… not blue? I am, like, really high up.

"Let go of me" I tried to say, but it came out sounding more like "Leg of meat" That tiny sane part of my mind was screaming at me to snap out of it, to kick his hairy, mutated butt to last Thursday, but I couldn't.

This is going to sound totally backwards and wrong, but at that moment, I actually missed First Generation Ari. That "new and improved" guy was really posing a threat.

My limbs felt like they weighted a ton each and I felt myself sinking, dropping through the air. I could hear the Flocks' shouts but they knew better than to interfere. One going down was better than all six.

I tried to bring my fist up to land a sold punch to Ari's throat but he swatted my hand away easily. His grip on my wrist tightened and he gave a low, gravely chuckle.

"Oh, no, loverboy… you can't play hero today" Ari's eyes locked on something behind my head and I turned slowly to see Fang, frozen in midair, a look of pure rage in his eyes. Even I flinched when I saw it.

What had they done to Ari? Before, he had been a mess of an experiment, but my mess of an experiment. My own personal enemy, one that I knew I could beat every time. Now here he was, super infused with crazy abilities and all I had was wings and some "speed of light" powers. Nothing special.

My feet hit the ground too heavily and I stumbled, almost falling flat on my face. Everything was happening in slow motion, like Ari's touch had pumped me full of anesthesia or something and there was only a matter of time before- 3,2,1- I was out.

Rough hands dragged my around and colors blurred together. I could faintly hear the Flock and every part of me longed to reach out for them but I couldn't make myself do it. I was too tired, to whacked out.

For a second, I was actually unconscious because the next thing I remembered was a metal door slamming shut. The sound clanging in my ear. The bars took up everything in my line of view until eventually, even the sun got blocked out.

The truck revved to life as I faded even further from consciousness. Someone kicked my cage from behind me and I could only guess who it was. We hit a bump in the road and I was thrown against the side of the vehicle, hitting my head against the crate wall.

"Don't worry, Maxi… I'll take good care of you" Ari's voice was a whisper and my thoughts flickered to Fang for a second. My heart ached before his heavy, hot hand clamped down on mine.

A sudden burst of pins and needles around my wrist and the world faded to nothing.

* * *

Sorry for just kind of leaving you hangin' there. Again, I'll get the next chapter up as soon as humanly possible- for me anyway. So... maybe tomorrow? I won't leave my computer till I have it typed up and ready. REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 


	27. Chapter 27

OK, HERE YA Go- oops caps. Review pwetty pwease!

Max:

You know the weird thing about going back to a place you really, really hate? It's that every time you go back there, you seem to hate it that much more. Like right then, for instance. I shouldn't have been surprised by the cold metal straps holding me down to the hospital-style bed or the various needles and wires hooked up to big, fancy machines.

And yet, when my eyes fluttered open and the sharp pain started to crawl up my legs, I still strained and fought against the titanium alloy.

The room was in the classic way of the School, all white with minimal furniture. No chairs except for the thing I was in and the walls were covered- every inch- in computer monitors, stabilizing machines, and other things I probably can't even say let alone tell you what it does.

Trying not to breathe the artificial air they pumped through the building didn't work out so well and my head spun as the chemicals filled my lungs.

I really, really hate the School.

Five minutes later- I counted- after I had given up freeing myself from the indestructible metal, the glass door _swished _open. A woman walked in, confident and official in her brand new white coat, and checked my vitals on four different screens.

Apparently, I wasn't dieing yet. I could just imagine the disappointment on Ari's face and the pondering expression on Jeb's. _Hmm… it would appear the specimen isn't quite normal_, he would say and delve into the possibilities of further mutating my gene pool.

"How are you feeling over there?" The woman called. Her hair was short and choppy, swiped behind her ear in an attempt to get keep it out of her eyes.

"Is that a trick question?" I ground out through clenched teeth. The pain in my legs was working its way up, something ten times worse than pins and needles. More like hatchets and machetes.

"Well, they told me you were a handful but I don't think you'll be a problem with me" She said in a sycophant- ish voice. I bet she kisses the ground Jeb walks on.

A handful? She had no idea what a handful I could be. Full grown men couldn't control me and she thought she could? I imagined busting out of those bonds and smiling at the stunned look on her face.

That is, until she vanished. I blinked. Maybe it was a trick of the light or maybe I was dreaming. Those experimental doses can do a lot to a persons' mind. But then she re-appeared in front of my face, a blur in the corner of my eye.

"You can't send a full human to a hyrbid's job" Her voice wasn't dreamy anymore but fierce and sure and her brown eyes flashed silver for a second.

What?! Bring back the newbie scientists! I want a refund on the enemy. I stared at her as she took out a syringe and jabbed it in my arm before suddenly appearing next to a machine on the far left of the room.

I'm fast but even I couldn't track her movements. For a second, a bitter jealousy swelled inside me- how come she got the super advanced speed serum- but it was soon replaced by anger.

"You're one of us" My voice was quiet, barely believing. Was this real?

"No, no, no. I'm better than you. Simple as that" She said and flashed a toothy grin over her shoulder. I bet Ari loved her and her confident personality. I bet he was just filled with joy at the fact that she was a better- and probably more important- bad guy hybrid than him.

"How can you join their side? After what they did to you?" I asked. If I looked closely, I could see the tell-tale signs of tests, the scars and what not. And, you know, the whole super human abilities.

"What did they do to me? But make me a better person?" She zipped around the room, faster than anything I'd ever seen before. Probably faster than the speed of light, since she literally disappeared.

I just became a blur you could blame on tricky eyes, but she seemed to no longer exist for seconds at a time. My mind was still trying to wrap it's messed up self around what she was saying.

Was she thanking them for ruining her life? For twisting her DNA and mutating her? I'll admit, I love my wings and speed and all the extra side-effects of that, but not enough to work for the white-coats. Not enough to completely forget about what they put me through since the day I was born.

My vision suddenly blurred, the colors blending together in a mass of white and gray and silver. The pain in my body went away, replaced by a weird lethargy.

"Soon enough, you'll be a better person too" She whispered in my ear before pressing a button on the opposite side of the room. A gentle whirring starting building up in the room, reverberating through my chest, rattling my bones.

For a second, I strained hopelessly one more time against the bonds on my ankles and wrists, my wings twitching, but in the end all I could do was wait as the chemicals kicked in and think about what they could be doing to me.

Fang:

"Shit!" I shouted as soon as I could move my mouth. It had taken an hour for whatever Ari had done to me to wear off. My wings still moved stiffly and I couldn't easily unclench my fists once they were balled up.

"Hey! Children present" Nudge nodded to Angel and Gazzy. The 8 year old was close to tears and her brother just glared straight ahead with his determined face on.

I was too angry at myself and Ari and Jeb and the world to care if the kids heard some words not exactly Barney approved. It's not like they haven't heard or said some themselves. I grimaced at Max would say to that.

"How long will it take to get to the School?" Ig asked, swooping down to fly next to me.

"A day, maybe two" I muttered just loud enough for him to hear. My jaw clenched at the thought of what could happen in ten minutes let alone two days! Hey, two minutes is enough to kill someone at the School.

I could still see that triumphant look on Ari's face as he flashed his new upgraded self. He didn't even need those clumsy wings to fly he just lifted up into the air and with one glance, managed to freeze me- and the Flock if they got too close- in place for an hour.

Plenty of time for them to get in a plane and have Max trapped in a cage before we even hit the next province. I could beat myself unconscious for letting it happen in the first place.

"Relax, man. We've gone on rescue missions a million times before, it's no biggie" Iggy threw me a small smile but it wasn't convincing at all.

"Yeah" I grumbled and flinched when I unclenched my fists. Just that morning Max had been holding the hand I flexed sorely and the thought sent me brooding again.

Why don't I just tell her I love her? Get it over with! She admitted she cares about me, is falling in love with me, so why can't I just tell her? Picturing her voice when she said it warmed up the darkest parts of me for a just a second before I remembered she wasn't there.

_I'll tell her,_ I swore silently. _The moment I can wrap my arms around her, I'll tell her how much I love her, and then I'll _kill_ Ari._

Max:

My wings were bunched up behind my back, stiff and sore from not being used. I love dreams, especially when I don't have any. Just perfect, peaceful sleep.

But that perfect and peaceful sleep had been drug induced by some experiment with a serious case of denial. Thinking about the dazed and dreamy look in her eyes sent a shiver down my spine. I'm glad I have a sense of reality at least.

With a tired groan, I pushed myself up onto my knees in my size extra small crate and pressed my face to the cool metal bars to banish the headache I felt creeping up. My heart was beating an uneven rhythm in my chest- _thud, thudthud, thud, thudthud- _and no amount of deep breathes could calm it down.

I felt like I had just battled the entire universe alone and I swear I could almost hear my bones creaking when I moved. My wings felt weird, a bit crooked but I was too tired to turn my head and look.

Instead, I forced myself to study the other experiments in the room. Cages were stacked on each other like an aisle in Costco. Row upon row of dejected and demented _things_ that had once been normal kids. My heart ached at the sight.

"Haspot! No… cructo segna" Tiny voices whispered in a language I knew had to be made up. The Flock had one too. They argued back and forth and I couldn't tell which crates they were coming from until two pairs of green eyes peered through the shadows of the cage.

"I like your wings" The little girl's voice was sweet and hushed but I could see her face. Just the glowing green eyes. "They're very shiny and pretty"

"Thank you" I said, trying to muster up the strength to smile at her, show her it was okay to come closer to the light.

I wondered if she had wings too, imagined the color of the feathers while trying not to the think too much of my Flock. They'd be on their way now, ready to bust me out of this hell-hole and I smiled at the thought of Fang's face. Until I realized what little Miss Green Eyes had said.

Shiny? My feathers were anything but shiny! That wacky beat my heart was pounding became even more frantic as I craned my neck to look at my wings. The gasp that escaped my lips echoed in the hallow cage.

Where were my brown and gray flecked wings? What happened to my long and narrow feathers? Instead of the fourteen foot span set of neatly feathered wings, so much like a hawks, I didn't know what to compare the things between my shoulder blades to.

They were shiny, like she'd said, and shimmered in the faint light and cast off an iridescent glow. Pointed at the tips with great, arching ends, I felt like a dragon, I felt like a freaking fairy, I felt like anything but the avian-hybrid I used to be.

------

REVIEW! and I'll update soon.


	28. Chapter 28

THANK YOU!!!!!!!! Everyone who's been reviewing and reading. thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou... ah, vertigo.

Max:

Two days. Two days!? I could barely hold my head up, barely struggle anymore when they came to drag me away for tests. Only two days and I felt like I was dying- or dead already. Are those the pearly gates I see? Oh, no, just the barred door to my dog crate.

There were bruises on possibly every square inch of my body, my hair was matted and messy, my jeans torn and mud-stained from physical endurance experiments outside with the big bad wolf boys. I was sort of glad the metal trapping me wasn't reflective.

Every time the door opened, my heart skipped a beat in sad hopefulness that it would be the Flock coming to bust me out but it never was. For forty eight hours, every hour, I would pray and hope and plead with my mind that they'd be coming soon.

Why wasn't I free yet? Why wasn't this over? I had never felt so… pathetically helpless before.

Knees drawn up to my chest, hands clasped around my calves, I was huddled up in my cage and fighting to stay conscious. You can't sleep in the School, because you never know if you'll wake up. But my eyes started to droop and my breathing slowed down and eventually, I couldn't fight it anymore. I sank into perfect, dreamless sleep.

--

"Wake up, Maxi!" I was rattled awake- damn- by my favorite person in the world. His snarl was so endearing and genuine how could I not hate him? And those eyes. How much more hate filled could you get?

My mind didn't need to scramble wildly like always to tell me where I was. Once you're in the school it's sort of hard to forget, you're subconscious has a way of reminding you even for the hour or so you actually manage to sleep.

Ari swung open my crate nice and wide and dragged me out by my arm. My wings stayed tucked in close to my back almost shaking from the effort. They were the sorest part of my body, having been worked practically to the bone.

Four erasers- plus Ari- marched me down the white halls, the sterilized air making me dizzy. Our footsteps echoed loudly, counting down to my breaking point. There's only so much poking, prodding, and jabbing a person can take before going over the deep end.

Large windows lined the halls, looking in on sick and twisted things that no person should ever have to see, let alone experience. From the inside, the windows were one way mirrors. You can look in but they can't look out. I can't look out.

_You can't always rely on others, Maximum. You have to do things for yourself._ I almost jumped at the Voice in my head. I hadn't heard it since Ari first grabbed my arm forty eight hours ago and here it was, suddenly giving its Confucius advice.

We turned a corner and there they were. Those big, metal doors that opened up into an outside arena, every Eraser's playground. Ari was practically bouncing with excitement, pretty much drooling on himself in the anticipation of chasing me down.

**_Alright, Voice. I'll do this for myself._** I thought and in a spur of weird, wild energy, I yanked my arm out of his grasp, dropping to the ground and knocking his legs out from under him at the same time. The other four erasers were on me in a second but the sudden exhilaration I felt was all I needed. A solid fist to the throat sent one eraser choking and gasping while a powerful kick in the chest made me grin when I heard the snap of a rib cracking.

Ari was back up, snarling in earnest. I am so _sick_ of him, I thought. My blood started to burn with anger I had been way too tired to feel five minutes ago. What had just annoyed the hell out of me before was now really, really pissing me off.

"You shouldn't have done that" He said and I rolled my eyes, slamming my fist into the middle of his face without even blinking an eye. Ari stumbled, stunned as blood started gushing from his nose.

"_You_ should have just left me alone" I ground out through clenched teeth. An eraser tried to grab me from behind but my elbow connected with his groin and he doubled over.

Freedom and fresh air were only twenty feet away. Granted, I would have to run like heck to reach the cliff-edge before more erasers came pouring after me, but that wouldn't be too difficult. Super-speed and all.

"Can't do that, Max. Can't ever do that" Ari was watching me now, not moving to fight back just watching me with a weird look in his bloodthirsty eyes. He was squeezing the bridge of his nose to stop the blood flow.

"_Why?!_ What is so important about me and the Flock that you can't just let us live?" I was losing it now. Goodbye- Max has left the building. For some reason, it seemed important to ask that question, a question I had been asking myself for so long and never had the answer to.

"You haven't figured it out yet have you? ..." The look on his face made it seem like it was funniest thing in the world. Ha-ha, Max doesn't know why she's a mutant freak! How hilarious. Ari opened his fanged mouth to answer but never got a chance to.

The alarms- those ones that always signaled our escape- suddenly blared to life, cutting off Ari's reply. The halls turned blue and red, like the cop car sirens outside the motel two days ago. Deja vu anyone?

Fang:

"That was awesome!" The Gasman shouted. The smoke was almost suffocating and debris was all over the ground, various parts of the building Iggy had just minutes before blown to smithereens.

"Sounded awesome" Iggy answered, a big grin on his face.

While the erasers ran around, their small stupid minds barely able to catalogue what had just happened, we flew down through the thick smoke and ash and were easily inside the School. We had to move fast, before the alarms-

Went off. I guess they upgraded their security system from freakishly delayed to freakishly accurate. Though, exploding is kind of hard to miss.

"Come on, move" I said and we took off, running through the halls, coughing occasionally when the air was too thick. My fists stayed clenched at my side, arms pumping as we ran.

_Where are you, Max?_ I thought. I glanced in ever window and every open door. No sign of her. I kept expecting to turn a corner and come face to face with Jeb or Ari or both and almost sighed with relief when I didn't. Honestly, I was hoping to run into one of the two, just so I could see the look on their faces before I completely turned them into ground beef. Or mashed potatoes, whichever one seems more…. Pain inducing.

"Someone up ahead" Iggy said at my side. Without bothering to answer, I veered right and the Flock followed. Angel was struggling to keep up so I grabbed her around the waist and lifted her feet off the ground, never once slowing down.

"- in for it" I rounded the corner and stumbled to a halt, confused and relieved and angry. Was that Max? Hard to tell between the bruises but those eyes were sort of hard to forget. Her wings were different… sort of opaque. No feathers but more like a bat's wings.

Ari turned to snarl at me, blood streaming from a nose probably broken. Definitely broken if Max had anything to do with it. I placed Angel carefully on the ground, my eyes never wavering from the two in front of me. An eraser moaned on the floor by my foot and Iggy silently kicked it. End of moaning.

"Well, well… if it isn't the whole gang, reunited again" I stepped in front of the Flock in a very Max stance. I'm pretty sure I saw Nudge roll her eyes but ignored it. That over-protective side of me was coming out. "Sorry, if I'm not touched by the whole thing"

Max's eyes met mine over Ari's shoulder and she nodded, taking a slow, hesitant step towards Ari. Jeez, she looked horrible. Cuts and bruises, it looked like she hadn't had a moments rest. Her hair fell limp in front of her eyes and then those wings…

"Oh, no loverboy. You can't pull any tricks on me" Ari must have caught our silent transaction proving that maybe he wasn't as dumb as he looked. Max got one step closer and then Ari was right in front of my face. "I'm not little Ari anymore"

My knee came up and got him right where it hurts. I would have flinched for him if I cared. He doubled over with a satisfying _oomph_ as the breath left him. Without waiting, I slammed my elbow onto the place where his back meets his neck and he went completely down.

"Move, Max!" I said and she seemed to snap into action. I picked up Angel and handed her off to Iggy, herding the kids after Max towards the doors leading out into the yard.

Before I could take one step, Ari's fat hand wrapped around my ankle and pulled. I hit the ground and flipped onto my back, kicking out with my legs to get him off of me. In the next second, I was being pinned up against the wall by my throat. I couldn't even remember leaving the ground.

"Fang!" Max called as Ari punched me, hard, in the stomach. The next one would definitely break a rib but before he had the chance to do some real damage, Max came streaming past, taking Ari with her.

"U and A!" I yelled to the Flock and they immediately obeyed, taking off quickly and easily into the night sky just outside those doors. I could hear the white-coats coming and erasers would soon be crawling all over.

Max and Ari were fighting way to quickly for me to keep track. All blurs and flickering images. Flash of claws there, glimmer of wings there. Without any thought, I dove into it and wound up pinned under Max. Her eyes widened for a second before she was standing over me, squaring off with Ari again. His foot appeared by my side so I grabbed it and pulled him down. He kicked and punched but I got on top of him, throwing hit after hit. All the bottled up anger I felt towards him seemed to come rushing out with each punch. He tried to wrap a sweaty hand around my wrist but I yanked away and pounded against his chest and stomach.

"Fang" Max's voice wasn't really processing in my brain. My fist slammed into his left cheek, jerking his head to the right. I did the reverse then repeated.

"Fang!" When will he learn to just let it go? He'll never be better than us, never win over us. We're the best the School has ever had and he just can't accept that he's the second place spot. That his dad likes us better….

"FANG!" I blinked at the shout right in my ear and looked down. Ari was unconscious, or close to it. His left eye was already swelled shut and blood trickled out of a split lip. A pretty gruesome bruise was just turning yellow on his right cheek bone.

She pulled me to my feet and dragged me away, still heaving and breathing hard. Our shoes squeaked on the linoleum tiling and her hand felt warm and shaky in mine. Two more steps until- ah, freedom. Before she could snap open her weird new wings, I pulled her around and kissed her- full on eyes closed, hands on her cheeks kissed her. For that split second, everything faded away, the blaring alarms still going off, the sharp pain in my knuckles, the Flock's voices yelling at us from above.

"I love you" I sighed when I pulled away. "Before anything else happens, know that. I love you"

My heart was beating like crazy and I couldn't really believe I had just said that out loud. Sure, that had been my plan but I plan to wear less black every day and we know how well that works. There was a heart stopping minute where she didn't say anything, just stared at me with wide eyes and then slowly, at the same time as her wings unfurled, she smiled.

"Not the best timing, but I love you too, Fang" Just as white-coats started pouring out of the double doors, we took off and I noticed the way the color of Max's wings seemed to change in the new light. The way she seemed to slice through the air instead of soar through it.

I also just noticed with my sharp mind that she'd said she loved me too. Flying away from the School with no one racing after us and no one left behind I almost couldn't bite back the smile I felt creeping along my mouth.

She loves me…

Ari's POV:

He laid there; eyes scrunched closed, fists clenched. His face hurt like hell but that didn't matter. Ari didn't feel pain, he embraced it. With nobody around to fix his cuts and scrapes as a kid, he got used to the stings and throbbing. But this pain was different.

Why had he just let them go? Why didn't he fight back and end Fang's glory once and for all? He knew why, because of _her_. Standing there, hating him with all she's worth. Ari wished he could change that but it was too late to shift the teams now, the war had started.

With his advanced hearing, he had heard every word of their short conversation. Short, but it had meant so much- to Fang, to Max, to Ari. It changed everything now- from business to personal.

And Ari knew just how to make things personal.


	29. Chapter 29

**Finally!**

Max:

"You look like a goth butterfly" Nudge couldn't take her eyes off my latest makeover. So far, I looked like "one of those gargoyle things", "Barbie with a bite", "a fairy princess only not quite so nice" and lastly, "a goth butterfly".

"Where do you come up with this stuff?" Iggy laughed from my other side. I wished, not for the first time, that he could see how deadly my glare was.

"Thanks, Nudge" I grumbled, hating the way my eyes stung and the huge lump that caught in my throat. Nudge was so not helping my self esteem with her comments on my freakish appearance. I hated them- my wings- they were ugly and weird and it made me feel that way too. I was actually jealous of the Flock with their beautiful, downy wings.

Better yet- I felt bald compared to them. Move over graceful swans, here comes the bald eagle.

_I think they're pretty, Max_, Angel's sweet voice flooded my thoughts and I smiled up at the little girl. As always, Angel has a way of making the world seem just that much better, brighter, nicer. Like she really is an angel sent from whatever god is out there.

Speaking of brighter. Fang. I looked over at the tall, dark, and handsome boy and couldn't stop the smile spreading across my face. In the morning light, he looked so perfect and at ease. Was that the hint of a smile I saw? My heart leapt at the memory of his voice saying those three words some people would kill to hear by the time they're thirty. I hadn't expected to hear them at all and didn't know I wanted to until he said it.

As if he knew I was thinking about him, Fang opened his dark eyes and looked at me, his gaze connecting with mine, his dark wings working powerful down strokes. He's gonna give me heart complications one day.

"What are _you _smiling at, Max?" The Gasman looked at me suspiciously and I blinked. Fang's eyes closed and you never would have known they were open. My pulse slowed down a little bit.

"The fact that I'm not flying behind you" I said just as Iggy started to choke.

--

That night we dined like champions on pop-tarts and hamburgers gained from dumpster diving. So Martha Stewart wouldn't approve, but I don't see her roughing it out in the wilderness of California. She has people who do that for her. I have combat boots.

Nudge and the Gasman dove for the last hamburger at the same time and wound up in a life or death struggle to be the winner. Tug-a-war with food. I rolled my eyes and wedged in between them and tore the patty in half. Problem solved.

Though we didn't actually have a verbal discussion on the matter, we knew the grand scheme of things had changed. We needed a new plan, a better one. I'm going to be honest here and admit that coming out to sunny California may not have been the greatest idea.

One, we were closer to the School- the real one, the one we had known since birth. Two, there was a way higher chance of us getting seen in the media capital which graciously welcomed us with a helicopter our first day in the freaking state. And three, it was just plain stupid. If the School can track us down in hours, what were the odds of Craven- if there even _is_ a Craven- livin' free? Zero, zilch, nada. He was probably dead by now if anything.

So when the sun started to go down, Angel started to drift off to eight year old dream land and we stacked fists I was already sifting through the possibilities. I couldn't help but notice for a second how much older they all looked- how much older they had gotten in those two years kept apart. Though I'll never admit this out loud, I was sort of jealous of their fake families. I had missed two years in the lives of the people I love the most and watching them drift away to their makeshift beds made me realize how long that really was.

"You okay?" Fang asked and I blinked back to reality. Man, those thoughts were really starting to depress me- and really adding to the anger I felt towards the School. Fang watched me, his dark eyes almost hidden by his too long hair.

"Yeah, I'm fine" I mustered up a smile- as genuine a smile as possible- and though he didn't look convinced he let it go. Bless him.

We sat side by side in the dark, overly aware of the other person. I swear, it was like an electrical switch had gone on and all of a sudden I was leaning closer and closer to him until my shoulder touched his. Next thing I know, his hand is holding mine and his arm's around my waist. When did that happen? Why hadn't it happened sooner?

_Stop fooling around, Maximum. You have a job to do_. The Voice came crashing down on my happy moment. Like water on fire.

**Yeah, well. If you'd let me know what it is, I'd do it**, I thought as my heart started to go crazy. I wasn't used to being so close to anyone, especially not Fang. Was I doing this right? I may have kissed the boy a few times but I didn't know how to… do whatever we were doing. Cuddling? Oh, that word sounds so… _girly_, it made me cringe.

"I meant it" Fang's voice suddenly added to the ones in my head, the only difference is that I liked what he was saying. That he really did love me. There was a sudden, sharp pain at the back of my skull but it faded just as quickly. Odd…

"I know" I said and inched closer so our sides were completely touching. Whatever it was, I liked it. I felt safe with Fang and wanted. Not _needed_ like the Flock _needs_ me, but wanted. Fang _wants_ me. For me. As cliché as that sounds.

_Capturing you was a warning. Next time, you may not come out with your memories in tact. If you come out at all_. All the warmth that had been steadily building up in my body evaporated. Just like that. Blink and brrr… it's f-f-frrreezing!

**What does that mean?** I thought but it wouldn't answer. It never answers a direct question which just confirms that maybe I am insane and made up this infuriating Voice because who else could create something so annoying? But it surprised me.

_Knowledge is power, Max. You have power over them and its getting old. How will the battle end? With you as victor or them? To win a war, you must defeat the enemy. Get a jump start, Max. _

"A jump start on what?!" I hissed and Fang jumped- had I actually managed to take the master of cool off guard? His arms stiffened around me in that awkward way he used to hug with.

"Voice?" He asked after a minute and I nodded. He rested his chin on my head and I could feel his heart beating, making things that much more real. Fang was real, I was real, his arms around me were real. We are real.

"What'd it say?" Fang had turned into quite the chatter box. Was he actually instigating a conversation? Was he promoting discussion? I suddenly realized how husky his voice had gotten, how much deeper it was from fourteen year old Fang's. And how it sent shivers down my spine. That was definitely something younger Fang had never managed to do.

"Something about-" My head cracked in half. Oh, nope, false alarm. It just _felt _like it did. An image of the School- the bars of my cage- flashed behind my eyes before disappearing.

Whoa, man. I shook my head.

"What?" I sat up as a weird almost buzzing started in my ears. Brain attacks had never felt like this before. Fang pulled away and looked into my face with a look of concern on his.

"Um… it said-" Another earth shattering streak of pain ran along the back of my head and to my shoulders. I gasped despite myself and didn't even blush at the sign of weakness.

Another image blurred my vision. No… it wasn't the School. Those bars were too thick to be the metal crates they trapped us in. Was it a prison? Sounds echoed in my ears, the clanging of metal on metal.

"Max?" Fang even sounded concerned now so I'm guessing my facial expression was none too flattering. His hands were on my shoulders but I couldn't feel them. The chaos in my mind was clattering louder and more dizzying.

_You asked me to let you know, well here you go. You're first assignment, Maximum. _

Fang drifted away, his face, his hands, his voice. The sound of the Flock's steady breathing was all growing dimmer, making way for the din of the Voice's vision. I tried to shake myself out of it, keep away the attack, but there's nothing I can do to beat a _voice!_

Nothing but listen.

Iggy:

I shook the Gasman's shoulder, feeling the rough texture of his shirt. Man, he hadn't changed it days. I should probably let him borrow one of mine… for hygiene's sake.

"Wha?" He rolled over next to me, and yawned too loudly. I clamped my hand over his mouth but he kept trying to talk.

"Sssh! Tell me what Fang and Max are doing" I whispered. I could here something going on, something _good._ Bribery is always a good way to get what you want. I heard Gazzy shuffle around, stifle another yawn, then slowly draw in a breath.

"Aw, man. It's sick… sick and twisted" He hissed back and I grinned. Evil? Yes, but oh so fun. After a second of silence I smacked his arm and he continued. "They're like… dude, I think they're _cuddling_! Oh, man, Fang. That's low"

Cuddling? Was that word even in Max's dictionary? As a matter of fact… why is it in anyone's dictionary? That word is just so… fluffy and weird. And should never be used in the same sentence as the name Fang.

"I can't look… you can't make me!" Gazzy gasped and whispered. I could hear the enjoyment in his voice though, he was loving every minute of this, just like I was. The Gasman- my prodigy.

"This should land us at _least_ a couple of starter cables and an alarm clock" I said, rubbing my hands together with a grin. Our blueprints were safely tucked away in my back pocket, a place Max would definitely never go near… because she has Fang's back pocket to grope!

The Gasman tried not to laugh, giving a muffled scoff, but suddenly he froze next to me. Nudge rolled over and smacked my back so I turned and pushed her away roughly. She groaned and threw her arm over her eyes. Ugh, girls.

"Something's happening to Max" His voice rose an octave, going backwards in the puberty time line. I shifted and rolled onto my back, nudging Nudge again. I could hear a rustle come from where Fang and Max had been before. Whispers then a gasp.

Either something really awkward could be happening or something bad. Fang suddenly said, loudly, Max's name and she didn't answer. Oh, no. I shot up and walked over to them.

"What's going on?" I asked, ignoring the awkward silence and Fang's self- conscious throat clearing.

"Don't know… brain attack" I rolled my eyes at his use of minimal words. I can see why Max might find him annoying sometimes- well, used to find him annoying. She seems to looove him now.

"Doesn't sound like the usual mental siege" My fingers brushed against her neck and I drew back, fast. Her pulse was soaring, like racing faster than… something freakishly fast. She groaned and I heard her moving, probably twitching in her sleep. Fang shuffled at my side and it was suddenly really… quiet….

The mental image of _Fang_ snuggling up to someone- let alone _Max_- was just too priceless. I could see it now. Max today, a stuffed giraffe tomorrow. Who knows? Maybe he'd even wear some purple for the occasion.

I was about to say something snide and incredibly witty when Max decided not to have a mental breakdown anymore. I jumped back when I felt the air by my knees lighten up and steadily get heavier as she sat up.

"I won't do it!" She gasped and I wished for the billionth time that I could see her reaction to the look on my face. And the lovey-dove eyes she and Fang were sending each other. I sighed, having expected something more exciting than than when she woke up and apparently so had Gasser.

"Oh, come on! What a rip off!" And the entire Flock was awake at the Gasman's explosive outburst that had nothing to do with fire or rubble.

* * *

So, random end half of that, I just felt like writing Iggy for some reason... not the best chapter, sorry. review anyway though! 


	30. Chapter 30

That's really any excuse for why this took so long to get up. Just that I've been really busy and frazzled- like that word? Anyway, I just finished my twilight fic so I can focus all my attention on this one and making it waaaay better cause I feel like it's sort of gone down hill. Yikes. So, that's all. Read on. (sorry for suckiness of chapter. will get better, I just needed to back up what will happen...yeah)

An intern at Genesis:

What he carried in his hands was the most important thing in the world. It was more important than his life, which he would lose if he dropped it. The vial contained twenty years of research, almost his age. His shoes echoed loudly on the old, stone floors of Genesis, the place where it all began.

The first experiments had been conducted there, within the same island core that he walked through. It was the perfect place, really, for the work they did. Hard to get out of, abandoned by law. They even managed to get a profitable income by running tours of the prison above ground. Humans and their desire to be scared, spooked by old ghost stories and legends. They didn't know fear.

The young intern rounded a corner and almost dropped the vial. His palms were sweaty and his hands shook but he managed to keep hold, even as Ari leered at him. Ari didn't need to say a word, just his presence was enough to make the man in the white coat's legs go weak.

After a split second stare down, Ari pushed past and the young man sighed. He couldn't wait for his job to be over with because that meant he could go back to his own labs. It was an honor, to be invited here, to the base, to Genesis, but it scared the crap out of him all the same.

Did he feel guilty about what the vial would be used for? In a way, but guilt wasn't an emotion he was aloud to feel. So, a few million people would die. It was for the cause of science and advancing the human race. Those who survived would proceed in evolution and the rest…. Well, they were just too outmoded. The process of elimination and survival of the fittest. Darwin's ideals instilled in the intern's heart.

But if he could feel guilt, he would have remembered that Darwin had been talking about birds. Not the human race.

Max:

A normal day in the life of me goes as such: wake up in a cold sweat from the nightmare you have every night, provide some kind of breakfast for the Flock off the top of you're head, keep them from killing each other and from getting killed by erasers, eat lunch, avoid public attention, find camp somewhere, take first watch, switch with Fang and then sleep.

And do it all over again the next day.

So to say that I do not need the Voice's nagging persistence is an understatement. I can handle the occasional comment here or there, a few images flashing before my eyes is no big deal. But in the past two days, its gotten to the point where- if I could get my hands on a voice killing machine- I would totally have no problem ending its existence.

_You're heading in the wrong direction. San Francisco is due north-west. _I tilted my wings to just the right angle against the wind, for a second reveling in the way it felt in my hair. The sun was shining in full force, glinting off our wings. We shed our winter coats for something a little more coastal and we were all relatively in a good mood. Even Fang seemed less dark and broody- but that didn't necessarily mean it was because of the good weather. Wink, wink.

**I don't want to go to San Francisco**, I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the horrible images the Voice was sending me. I didn't need to see them, I'd experienced stuff like that too many times to count. I was living proof of twisted experiments. A picture wasn't going to make me hate the School anymore than I already did, though it did fuel the anger.

_It's not up to you. You're destiny is set._ There it goes, with that destiny talk. My destiny should have been to live a normal life, with two parents and a dog, living in a house in suburbia with a best friend who had been in my class since kindergarten. In fact, I should have gone to kindergarten. We all know how well destiny works out.

"Hey, look Max! Seagulls" Angel laughed to my right and I cringed, forcing a smile for my baby. Of all the birds in the world, why did they have to be seagulls? Bad experience you could say or maybe I just really, really dislike them. Pigeons I can handle. But give me a flock of those white, loud, annoying birds and I'm almost embarrassed that I'm 2 in their gene pool.

"Gazzy, don't get too close this time. Rabies would not be a good thing" I said before drifting over to Fang. I couldn't help the smile I felt spreading across my face and that hyper beating of my heart. It was so normal now when I looked at him that I almost didn't mind the way it felt. His too long hair fell into his dark eyes and I fought the urge to reach out and brush it away. Talk about embarrassing.

So, I didn't have that perfect life I described a few paragraphs up. I'm not sure anybody does- and if so, adopt me please. If I actually did have parents and a family and if the School had never taken me away and changed my life forever, I never would have known my Flock. I never would have known Fang and thinking of life without him- even when he was just that broody, dark second in command- was enough to break my heart.

"She's been following us" His voice snapped me out of my revelation and I looked over at him. Though his face was serious, I saw his eyes soften. I grinned and he brightened probably despite himself.

"One of your groupies?" I asked. It seems like everywhere we go, Fang somehow manages to have girls throwing themselves at him. I can't even bring him to a supermarket without having a cashier flirt and bat her lashes. It amazes me that they still find something to say when Fang is so unresponsive.

"Jealous?" Fang rolled his eyes, trying not to grin. I glanced at the Flock to make sure Iggy wasn't blowing anything up and the Gasman didn't have the entire group of seagulls turned on him like last time. I shuddered at the memory of all those feathers he was missing for like a week. Let's just say that for a while, he flew like a fledgling just pushed out of a nest.

Now, why oh why would someone want to follow little old us? I mean, we're only a bunch of super advanced avian-hybrids on the run for our lives. What's so fascinating about something like that? I tried not to groan too loudly as I followed Fang's gaze. My heart leapt into my throat and started to race at the sight.

It wasn't some human reporter tracking us with a video camera-cringe- and it was definitely not an eraser. My hawk vision zoomed and focused on her. She was fast, I'd give her that, probably almost as fast as me, flashing from tree to tree, easily keeping pace with our flying. I couldn't see her face but she seemed oddly… familiar.

"Ow! MAX!" My head snapped around and I did groan. Three seagulls were poking at the Gasman's head, trying for his eyes. Nudge choked on her laughter while Iggy tried to ward off the attacking birds.

"Gazzy…" Told you I hated seagulls.

--

We stopped for lunch just outside one of those big, fancy residential gated communities. You know, the kind where the pool house is big enough for an eight person family and the dog has its own room? We lacked the actual food part of our lunch, but we gratefully rested our wings.

My mind flickered back to the woman following us. She was still there when we landed, a few hundred miles away but that would be nothing for someone so fast. I can get to Fiji from Canada in less than five minutes after all and she had managed to follow us for hundreds of miles. Fang was stiff as a board next to me, his jaw clenched so tight my teeth hurt just looking at him.

"Breathe" I whispered and though he didn't visibly exhale, it didn't look like he had a metal bar for a spine.

If I was a good liar, I could say convincingly that I wasn't stressing out about the fact that we had a stalker- a mutant one at that. I could tell you that I was totally confident that she was no threat to us because hey! We're bird kids- 98human, 2 bird, 100 indestructible. But that's so not the case. I could also say that Joan Rivers has never had plastic surgery…. Need I say more?

So while I silently willed Fang to relax, I jumped at every creak, snap, and scurry. She was probably watching us with infrared eyes or something equally not normal, spying for the School with Ari just a phone call away. Fang laid a hand on my knee, almost on impulse and for once I didn't care that the Flock saw something so not normal Fang and Max interaction. That was the old us- the best friends us- and the kids would just have to get used to us as in _us_ together- even though I was still having a hard time believing it. I didn't even blush when I placed my hand on top of his.

Just when I was beginning to relax, Iggy perked up. His head cocked to the side, listening, and I knew what he was hearing before he even opened his mouth. I was on my feet in seconds, the others following suite. My wings snapped open and for a second, a weird shock wave rushed through me, rattling me down to the bones. Huh.

There was a sound like rushing wind in my ears just to my right. Seconds later it was on my left. My eyes slid over and met Fang's. It was too easy, surely. If it was the School, they wouldn't have sent one lone mutant after us. And she wasn't even that fast- by Max standards anyway. Every five seconds, she rushed past my left side so I counted to five twice and on ten-

"_oomph!_" We tumbled to the ground, rolling a few times because of momentum. Note to self: never tackle someone mid- super human speed. Pain not necessarily a good thing.

"You're going the wrong way" Were the first words out of her mouth which was a big mistake on her part. Her hair had to be dyed. There was no way it could be so… _white._ Platinum Blonde has got nothing on her, she could have starred in Poltergeist. She had these creepy green eyes that stared through me and perfect, flawless pale skin.

"You're following the wrong people" I said, carefully ignoring the Voice like comment. And she did the weirdest thing. She smiled and not in one of those creepy, Eraseresque smiles that were sinister and cruel, but in a friendly sort of way. Which was almost as weird in my world.

"No… there's only one Maximum Ride" She answered. Her gaze flickered over my shoulder where Fang hovered. I swear, if she so much as smiled at him the wrong way, it was going down- friendly smile or no. I grabbed one of her arms, Fang the other and we hauled her to her feet. She didn't struggle or fight- and she didn't faint at Fang the almighty's touch.

When she saw our wings, which were carelessly exposed- _damn!_- her eyes widened even further. Was that awe I sensed? Would she bow next? Wow, for Hollywood's sake, I hope I never become famous. I grinned when I noticed what complete opposites her and Fang were. Standing next to each other, they were like night and day, light and dark. Fang just rolled his eyes.

"Right. And you are?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. I had actually been worried about the danger risk from her? If I can handle five erasers at once, little miss bleach blonde would be no problem.

"Camouflage. Cam" She said and those green eyes started to look a little wicked. Maybe I had spoken too soon?

"Camouflage?" The Gasman looked as if he had just seen the girl of his dreams, his beautiful blue eyes wide and dreamy. He asked as if her name was that much weirder than his own.

"Mhm… cause you can never quite see me" And bit by bit, she disappeared. Her legs vanished, then her arms. The rest of her body slowly just dissolved into nothing and the only thing left were her green eyes, but they were gone eventually too.

Fang, still gripping her arm which looked like thin air, looked at me, startled into wide eyes. I don't even want to know what my face looked like because if _Fang_ was surprised, I was floored. I knew the School was capable of some pretty crazy stuff- I mean, girl with wings here- but being invisible? Even I had to admit it was pretty darn cool.

"Faun over me later, we have a problem" Cam said, reappearing as if she had never vanished. Why did I not want to hear the next words to come out of her mouth? How come I could just tell it would ruin my day?

"In one week, half the world is going to die"

* * *

Queue doomsday music right? Reviews would be really nice and make my day soooo much better. I decided that I'm gonna put more fax cause I also feel like there's just not enough. haha, sorry. Bye! 


	31. Chapter 31

This chapter is slightly pointless but read it anyway! Thanks for the reviews to those who did! I'm using way too many exclamation points! Oh and... ah, nevermind. Read on!

Max:

Oh. Is _that_ all? I thought it would be something way worse, like… actually, it doesn't get much worse than that now does it? It took all of five seconds for the words to sink and five more for me to believe them. As soon as they had been out in the open, the Voice spammed me with even more images and sounds, as if that one sentence was all it needed to trigger the mind raid. It took all my energy to stay conscious.

"Max?" All eyes were on me, as was the fate of the _world!_ I felt sick just thinking about it.

"Can I have a minute? It's kind of a lot to process here" How could she just say it so casually? The world's ending, how bout lunch? Fang placed a steady hand on my arm but I shrugged out of his hold.

"So, this place?" Fang asked the bearer of all bad news after we sat her down. Every shred of light in his eyes had evaporated; he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against a tree like Mr. Casual Apocalypse. I, on the other hand, tried not to pace and shriek.

Cam stared, wide eyed, at us as she rushed through her explanations. I almost felt a little sorry for the girl. We are a pretty imposing group, especially fronted by me and Fang-heck, even Angel could intimidate someone- but she seemed to be dealing pretty well.

"Genesis. It's where I was… created. Kept in cages, experimented on, tested. The usual. They've kept it pretty well disguised as some… tourist attraction. I used to sit there and wonder how so many people could walk by above me and not do anything" the girl glared out at nothing and everything at the same time. Her creepy green eyes grew distant in a look I knew. Reliving your nightmares is something we do often.

"Sick freaks probably think it's so cool" Iggy kicked a rock and it flew, hitting a tree and sending bark flying. Blind and strong, that's Ig. It also helps that he can cook and build arsenals.

"_Cool_ is not the word. It's like… hell on earth" she closed her eyes and shook her head and for once, I knew what it was like. I could _relate_ with someone other than the Flock. And I actually liked it.

_The world's bigger than you think._ Was that meant to scare me or reassure me? Was it reminding me of how much rested on my shoulders or that other people outside of the Flock had gone through what we had? Either way, the Voice still made me cringe.

"Yeah, well. We've got our own version" I said. Fang shot me a look that clearly said not to tell her too much but I shrugged it away. She shared info, it only seemed fair. But I'm not a complete thick head. Cam- if that's her real name- did not need to know all the gruesome details of my life.

"True, but I doubt yours is about to murder millions by contaminating the water" She sighed. No, just ruin the lives of innocent children. "I know what to do and I can take you there, but I can't do it alone. I've tried everything but… it's an island, no way in but with an eraser as your tour guide. I need your help. The world needs you"

_I told you, Maximum. But I hope you're prepared for something you've never had to face before._

**And if I'm not? **I thought, though I already knew the answer. It was my destiny after all, wasn't it? I'm Maximum Ride, born to be the hero. And here came a person telling me what I was supposed to save.

The world. Needless to say, when I said I wanted my fate to be spelled out in English, I hadn't been meaning literally. And maybe not a fate so dynamically huge. Maybe save a cat stuck in a tree or something small like that. But saving the world? Words those big… just don't seem real.

"What's their plan?" I asked, dreading the answer. Cam looked me dead in the eye, Fang's intensity was almost too much and the Flock looked like they would jump ten feet in the air at the slightest sound. We all held our breath.

"To dump a butt load of biochemicals into the water, which they have plenty of access to. It'll make its way into the reserviors and taps and eventually, into every household and faucet. People will drink the water and not even know what's hitting them" She said and my stomach dropped as my face hardened. At least we were prepared for Eraser attacks and what not, but this was just too much. They've taken it too far and I was beyond pissed.

"What do we have to do?"

--

While we welcomed Cam, we didn't exactly trust her with our lives. So we stacked fists, tapped, then I sent the kids to bed. Iggy refused, saying that he was technically my age and had every right to stay up. Personally, I think he just wanted to be around the new girl. Ah, the lives of adolescent teenage bird boys.

Fang eased down next to me, his knee bumping mine, and he slid his arm oh-so-inconspicuously around my waist. Everywhere his body touched mine, I was hyper sensitive. My heart beat so fast, it was almost hard to breathe.

"Do you think she's telling the truth?" He whispered so they wouldn't hear. Over the small fire, I doubt Iggy was paying any attention, laughing away at something Cam had said. For his sake, I hoped she wasn't some decoy from the School. He looked happy, and my pyro in charge deserved to be happy.

"I don't know. But the world's population is kind of not something I want to take my chances with" I know. How is she taking this so lightly? But I wasn't. Oh, I so was not. Inside, I was a battlefield of emotions. Confusion and suspicion at whether or not Cam was just some big scheme and plot against us- cam does rhyme with scam. Relief that I finally knew what I was meant to do, that my destiny was no longer laid out in cryptic messages and signs but in words that I could understand. And fear. What if it was true? I had a sinking feeling it was, the Voice kept telling me so. But that meant so many things. Putting the flock in danger for one, and myself though I'm not being selfish just sane. Fear that I wouldn't succeed, above anything else.

Fang must have sensed my tension because he pulled me closer, reaching for my hand in the dark. My heart completely melted at how sweet he is, and how I never noticed that before. Why am I so stupid that I didn't notice a good thing until it smacked me in the face- and I had gotten my memory back after two whole years had passed.

"What if it's a trap?" Fang asked. His eyes blended into the dark sky behind him but I could almost see the burning in them. I felt it, that's for sure. "What if she's working for them?"

"I seriously doubt they would go through all that trouble just to kill us, Fang. They're not that creative" I risked a glance at Iggy and Cam, smiling to at how happy he looked, and leaned into Fang's chest, reveling in how safe I felt. It's not something I'm used to.

"I guess…" He muttered with a sigh.

How much longer would we all be together? What if I really wasn't ready for whatever was waiting at this Genesis place? If it all went wrong, who would I lose? All of them? Just one? I shivered as I thought about which one I didn't want that to be- horrible and cruel and sick as that is.

_Positive thoughts exude positive outcomes, Max. _

**So, if I think positively about you going away, you will?** No answer. Who would have seen that one coming?

"It'll be okay, Max. Whatever happens" Fang said as if he could read my mind. Last time I checked, only Angel could do that. "Trust me?"

Of course I trusted Fang. Always have, always will. But trusting him had nothing to do with whether or not this would all end badly. The plan was set, the course was drawn out. In two days we would be flying toward an island bound to be filled with our worst nightmares- Fang's personal favorite, cages, and mine, everything else.

Fang kissed my forehead lightly, sending shivers through my body, pulling me even closer to him and further into the shadows at the same time. My heart was beating so fast it hurt- but not because of the way Fang was now kissing me.

But because in two days, he might never kiss me again.

Ari:

He watched with a grin filled with malice. His sharp teeth glistened in the incandescent lighting in the stone room. His gleaming eyes never wavered from the screen even as they wrapped themselves around each other. Sick.

With a hard jab, Ari turned off the monitor, blinking away the colors behind his eyelids. His father's plan was working well with his own and soon he'd have what he'd always wanted. Sure, he'd always wanted a real _father_ but this seemed more important at the moment.

Killing Fang would always be more important. And here he was, falling right into his lap. How convenient. Cam didn't even know that she was helping Ari, her biggest enemy, but he'd thank her some other time. Like right after he ended Loverboy's life. Ari sighed and leaned back in his chair, arms crossed over a solid chest.

He loved it when things worked out his way.

* * *

REVIEW! or else... 


	32. Chapter 32

I have just tried to upload this chapter like four times on two different computers. GAH!

Max:

So, in the words of some famous dude who did something great, "Desperate times call for desperate measures"… or whatever that saying is. Personally, desperate times have been all the time in my life so the measures didn't really matter. Except for now. I'd truly hit rock bottom with my latest decision, but boy was Iggy loving it.

"You should let us do this more often" He said, grinning so widely I'm almost positive his face would have frozen that way. Ig looked like a kid who had just been given a life supply of candy- the only difference was that the life supply was of bomb equipment.

"Maybe next time the world is in danger, Ig" I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose as best as possible without dropping anything heavy and metal on innocent people way down below.

_There won't be a next time, Max. Not if you do this right._ I flinched as the anxiety rushed back through me. That "if" may seem tiny but it was the biggest word in my dictionary. If, if, if. What "if" I mess up and the world ends? "If" I don't make it in time, what will happen?

**If I keep thinking about this, my head will explode.**

The past day I had been trying, pointlessly, to keep all my thoughts from impending doom and gloom and so far, it wasn't working. In fact, it was so bad I was literally counting the seconds subconsciously. 22 hours, 42 minutes, and 13 seconds until we reached Genesis. It's official. I've lost my mind.

"It'll be okay, Max. In the end, it'll work out" My eyes fluttered open to meet Angel's big blue ones. When had she showed up? There was a weird look in the eight year olds eyes, something that sent shivers down my spine. I faked a smile for her and cleared my thoughts.

"I know, sweetie" I said with as much optimism as possible at the moment. What I really felt like doing was tucking in my wings and dropping to the ground where I could cry and cry about all the possible things that could go wrong tomorrow. But I'd be crying for a long time, the list of possibilities was endless.

My eyes wondered toward the ground where I could just make out Cam's figure, rushing through the thin forest below us, like an ant on the sidewalk. Is it possible for someone to feel that small? Because I did. Small and insignificant when I know it's the complete opposite. The world depended on me and all I wanted to do was duck my head under the covers and hide. If I had covers to duck under, that is.

Fang glided up next to me but I didn't show any sign that I noticed him there. I felt his eyes on me and could just imagine the worried look on his face- clenched jaw and all.

"We're close, Max. Look" he said quietly, a rumble in the background. To look or not to look, that is the question. Sorry Shakespeare, but mine was a bit more relatable at the moment.

Don't look! My mind screamed, but did I listen? No, of course not. I'm not one for listening, remember? Even when it's for my own benefit. So my eyes lifted and lifted, blinking in the blinding sunshine until… oh, crap. My heart sunk to the pit of my stomach, the color draining from my face.

It turns out my internal clock was a little off because splayed out before us was the coast- waves crashing against the shore- and way off in the distance, in the middle of the bay was an island. One I had been dreading the sight of since two days ago. One that held the fate of the world in its cold, concrete grasp.

Why couldn't we have flown slower?

-

"Anyone up for some good ol' fashioned campfire songs?" The Gasman asked as he poked the burning logs, sending tiny sparks flying. Angel sat down next to him and put her head on her brother's shoulder, making them officially the cutest sight ever.

"Not if you're singing them" Nudge snorted and I laughed, despite his glare- turns out he's been practicing his daggers.

In total, Iggy and his partner in crime had been able to build fifteen bombs, an impressive display if I'm being honest. They all had set timers that could only be turned on or off by them. The plan? To place them at intervals within the island, setting them off at different times to create the most chaotic scene possible. If I knew my boys as well as I thought I did, it would definitely work. There it is… that "if" word again.

"Alright, so we've got squirrel, sewer rat, or road kill. Take your pick" Iggy announced as he landed, feet skidding on the hard packed dirt. Angel gasped and covered her mouth with her hand, as if she were going to be sick. I knew that wasn't what was in the black plastic bag he held, but she didn'tso I threw him a warning glance.

"Just kidding. Burgers and fries. Dig in, y'all!" And oh, did we. As if we were at the last supper. I wasn't going to be washing anyone's feet though, so you can forget about that. But all the same, those burgers and fries were like, the most delicious things we had ever eaten and not because they were different in any way but because I think we all knew.

We all knew what tomorrow would bring, good or bad- but mostly fearing the bad. Nudge and the Gasman bickered like an old married couple as usual, Iggy just laughed and added a few stray comments while Angel did her own thing. Fang was his quite, broody self and I watched it all happen. A typical Flock night. Plus one- Cam, but she was so enthralled by us she barely said a word.

Like an unspoken law, nobody brought up the plan for the morning and nobody mentioned Erasers. For once, we just sat around the fire and talked, remembering the good ol' times- as cliché as that sounds. For instance, Iggy brought up that time when The Gasman was seven and Angel was five andhe decided he would grow his hair as a statement to his independence- his exact words. The only problem? Everywhere we went, people would come up to them and say "Oh, what cute little girls". End of his statement, beginning of our never forgotten story.

"Ha-ha. You're just so hilarious" Gazzy grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest and fanning his wings out behind him. I reached over and ruffled his blonde hair, just to tell him in my own way that I loved him no matter what. We're not exactly an emotional group, but he seemed to get the point.

Angel yawned, her eyes drooping as the universal sign that it was time for bed. I guess yawning really is contagious because it was like, as soon as the little girl dropped into la-la dream land, we all realized how late and how tired we really were. After all, we did have a big day ahead of us.

"Goodnight, Max" Nudge threw her arms around me, holding tighter than usual and I wrapped my arms around her thin shoulders, my throat tightening ever so much. When would I get to hug her again or listen to her aimless rants? She pulled away and a piece of my heart got colder.

"Night" Ig said in that awkward way boys have when things get a little deep for them. He patted my shoulder and I grabbed his hand for a second, our tiny version of a hug. Would he ever build a bomb after tomorrow? That question was almost like asking if he'd ever see again. Not worth asking.

He scooped Angel up in his arms and carried her over to where we'd set up our bags and blankets. She was asleep before her head even hit the floor. The noose around my throat was tightening, it was harder to swallow each second and then The Gasman was hugging me. My trooper seemed so small and young that I almost cried right then and there but I bit back the tears and hugged him back, holding him close for just a second.

"G'night, Gazzy" I managed to choke out, angry tears stinging my eyes. Must not cry, must not cry. That's my new mantra. It was already drilled into my brain by the third chant.

Why did those goodnights sound like goodbyes? Because they were, technically. Once morning rolled around, there would be no time for hugs, no time for anything but action. Action and fear and adrenaline. My kind of day. A _maximum_ day if that's not too incredibly cheesy.

Eventually everyone was asleep except me. Which is almost worse than if I was stuck with Ari in a room with no windows or doors. My own mind can drive me crazy sometimes, what with the Voice and all, but shockingly, I had my mind all to myself. If that doesn't sound crazy, read it again. Before I knew it, tears were running my down face and there was nothing I could do to stop them. They're almost as stubborn as I am. The more I swiped at them, the more they came, images of the Flock rushing before my eyes, all waiting for a chance to break my heart.

"Max?" I jumped, hand on my racing heart. Fang sat down next to me and I knew he hadn't been sleeping, just pretending and listening to me cry my eyes out. Great, I thought as the blush crept along my face. "What's wrong?"

Could I get away with lying to him? Maybe, there was something in my eye? Ha, yeah right. I'd only be kidding myself if I really believed I could fool _Fang_ of all people. Like lying to a mind reader, he always knew the truth. He could read me like a book- a very long, complicated book.

"Um… well, I just… I'm scared" My voice as light as leaves sweeping across the ground, barely audible even to me but I knew Fang had heard. For a second, he was dead quiet, like a ghost sitting next to me and then I was practically in his lap, strong arms wrapped around me like a barrier against the world.

"Everything will be okay, Max. I promise" His voice in my ear made me shiver. He stroked my hair and held me so close I couldn't move. "Nothing will happen to you"

"Oh, god. I'm not scared for me. For the Flock" And you, I thought but there was no point saying it. He'd just brush it off, saying he'd be fine yada, yada macho stuff. Fang isn't stupid, but did he fully grasp what could happen? Was he so sure of himself that he wasn't even the slightest bit afraid?

Then I realized who I was talking about here and almost laughed. Fang wouldn't fess up to something like that, not in a million years, not even to me. For all I know he could have been scared out of his mind but years of showing no emotion was habit now and way too hard for him to break. No, if he was scared, he'd keep it bottled up inside and locked away from the world…. Which could be ending! Why does everything lead back to that?

"That's who you are, Max. I wouldn't expect anything less" A fresh wave of tears threatened to overflow at having him there, trying to make me feel better. The point was to make me stop crying not release the flood gates.

"You're not helping me here, pal" I said in an annoyingly wobbly voice. Sniffling, I buried my head in Fang's chest, breathing him in, making my thoughts focus on nothing but him and how he felt.

Fang leaned back and tilted my head up with a gentle hand so I was looking at him. I could barely see him through those damn tears, but he stroked them away with his thumb as they fell. Which of course only drudged up more. Fang dark eyes met mine and never wavered, something most people can't do, but he isn't most people, now is he? Fang is Fang, end of story.

"I love you, Max. You know that, right?" He asked and I smiled like someone not sure but game for what was going to happen next.

"I love you, too" I said, pouring as much meaning into those words as possible in case it was the last time I had a chance to actually tell him that. Doesn't seem fair, does it? Romeo and Juliet were just plain stupid for killing themselves like but Fang and I? We never had a chance in this messed up twisted world where little kids are being experimented on as lab rats.

"Okay, then if you love me you trust me. So, trust me, Max. No matter what happens tomorrow, everything will be fine. You'll be fine and so will the Flock" Fang kissed me then, once and twice- the second one lasting a bit longer than the first and somehow ending tooquickly."Trust me"

And I trusted him. For that one moment, I could almost believe everything would be alright after tomorrow but if I thought about it, reality came flooding back. Nothing would be the same after the next 24 hours. Maybe the world would move on, never knowing what I had gone through and what we had given up, but the world would never be the same.

Not to me, anyway. And my world is a whole lot different from yours'.

* * *

There are about three or four chapters left for this fic. It feels like its taken forever to end, right? Anyway, before my computer spazzes... review if you feel the urge to click that purplish blue button. Bye! I'll update soon,I already have it written, it just depends on my laptops mood. Grrrr. 


	33. Chapter 33

Kay, this is where things get interesting. Hopefully...hehe?

Max:

The sun rose like it should, unfortunately. There was no freak occurrence where time stopped and morning never came. Too bad, cause I was really counting on an eclipse or something. Anything to delay the next day from happening. 

We were all unusually quiet, even Nudge, wrapped up in our own thoughts and memories. I could barely look at Fang without a lump rising in my throat so I didn't. Even as we flew towards the coast, I kept my eyes away from all things dark and brooding. It's a lot harder than it sounds.

Cars droned by below us and I glared at them, wondering if the people behind the wheels, all safe and carefree, knew how the Flock and I were going to be spending our day. My guess is a big fat no in that department considering that nobody stopped to say "Hey! Need some help saving the world?" No. They had no clue and we had to keep it that way.

We landed just outside of the town that held the tour groups and boats, of course run by Erasers. The only way in for us mutant kids was to fly but I knew them well enough to know that every sniper would be out, every camera pointed towards the sky. Which definitely caused a problem and made me bite my already chewed down nails. When you live the life of a runaway, manicured fingernailsare rarely an issue. Erasers just don't care about thing likebroken nails anymore.

"Any ideas?" Fang stared out at the group of Erasers 'casually' standing by the docks, uniforms dutifully on. As we watched, a family of five, a couple and some tourists approached them, tickets in hand. The erasers smiled, flashing their pointed canines at the unsuspecting citizens. They thought they were touring an old, haunted prison. I thought they were clueless.

"I'm thinking" I said. We could steal a boat but how far would we get? Probably not even to the middle of the bay. Flying was a possibility, until one of us was shot down from the sky like a duck. Next they'll be asking us to quack for them. I wondered what Fang would look like with a beak. Or bill or whatever. 

"How much weight can you guys carry?" Cam asked from my left side. Her eyes scanned the area, her shoulders were tense and she looked like she might snap from the pressure but I didn't blame her. This was her School and I'd be the same if it was the other way around. "Like, another person?"

"Fang can, why?" Fang shot me a death glare like no-I-will-not-carry-her! I sent one back that said what-choice-do-we-have? He rolled his dark eyes and shrugged, clearly not happy. Join the club.

"If you can carry me across and the rest of you stay within ten feet, I can cover us… camouflage remember?" Cam grinned, then disappeared… along with Iggy who had been just behind her. The Gasman's eyes bulged and Nudge opened her mouth to spew a rant in one big breath.

"That is so cool! I wish I could do that, don't you Max? I mean, how useful would that be? I wouldn't ever have to pay for anything, just take it and like… Sorry" The fourteen year old slowed down her motor and shrugged.

"Can you really do that?" I asked Cam and she nodded as her face reappeared. "Then let's do it. Fang, grab the girl, scowl later"

He shot me one final glare as if he'd rather be doing anything else than touching her and I couldn't blame him. He _is_ my boyfriend after all. But take one for the team, as they say, so as one we rose into the air and surprisingly, nobody pointed and squinted into the early morning sky. Nobody thought "It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a mutant bird kid!" They didn't even glance up from their morning coffees. Mmm... caffiene. 

The higher we flew, the faster my heart beat. This was it, the moment of truth. All those seconds I had been counting down had finally reached zero and there was no turning back. The shore ended and we flew over nothing but sea, the island growing closer. I could make out the stone building on top, the rugged cliffs and crashing waves. And most importantly, the guards, the guns, and the cameras. Glinting in the sunlight. Gulp.

I held my breath as we came in view of the first couple erasers, but they hardly noticed us. In fact, they didn't notice us all. My breath left my lungs with a giant whoosh. So far so good.

My eyes scanned the perimeter until I spotted a blindspot from erasers. I signaled the others to land and we swooped in wide arches to the hard concrete patch behind a huge, metal generator. Fang let go of Cam as if she had suddenly sprouted needles.

_Don't waist time, Maximum. Hurry!_ For a moment, we all stood in awkward silence, unsure of what to say in case it was the last thing we would say to each other. Shouldn't it be meaningful? Maybe sum up how much I cared about them and vice versa? As the leader, I should probably say something along the lines of a pep talk... right?

"Everyone know the plan?" I asked quietly, just in case someone was around to hear us. They all nodded like the good little Maxcadettes they were. I forced myself to swallow. "Good. Listen, we can do this, guys. And girls. We've been in worse situations and made it out alright so this will be cake." Hmm... adding lying to my list of cridentials. 

"Riiight" The Gasman groaned, shufflingfrom foot to foot. 

"Right. So let's get this thing over with, okay? See you back here, boys" I tried to sound enthusiastic, honest I did. Whether or not it was convincing is a whole other conversation, one I'm not willing to dwell on. Because I know for a fact that I sounded anything but enthusiastic, or brave, or strong, or leaderish. 

Angel and Nudge stood behind me, Iggy and Gazzy stood behind Fang, who for a heart wrenching moment just looked at me, his eyes burning with everything he'd never say out loud. Not in front ofyoung ears at least.We nodded at the same time and then off we went- his team to plant bombs, mine to stop the bad guys.

When I put it that, it all just seems so easy doesn't it?

Fang:

"How do we get inside?" Iggy whispered as we crouched low behind a crumbling wall. I was still trying to wrap my head around the fact that we were actually doing this, and that I had let Max go off without doing _something _more than look at her. Stupid.

"That door" I said, pointing to it. An eraser stood guard but he seemed barely conscious, and dumb enough to let us just walk by if we could. As far as I could tell, he was the only one around so it shouldn't be too hard, even with the gun he held.

"Wait here" Without waiting for a reply, I crept along the gravel till I was literally standing right in front of the guy. He didn't move a muscle and was he drooling? I kicked his shin and he startled awake, barely able to process that his eyes were open before I knocked him out again. "Come on!" I called, grabbing his gun and trying not to flinch at the memory of the last time I held one of them.

We kicked open the door, expecting a fight, but there was nothing, just cold mortar and metal prison cells. Iggy took five minutes and stuck an explosive just inside the first cell, setting the timer for ten minutes. Our footsteps echoed way too loudly in the old stone prison but that didn't matter. The only way Max's plan would work was if ours did.

"This is reaaally creep" The Gasman hissed as we ran, his voice dripping Twilight Zone. I would have agreed, if I wasn't thinking of all the possible things Max could be getting herself into at this point. She'd had five minutes, which was more than enough time for that girl to bury herself neck high in chaos. If we made it off this island, I'd really have to make her break that habit.

At some point, we almost ran right into a tour group, the Eraser's voice echoing around us. They were about to round the corner so we crammed into a cell at random, practically sitting on top of each other. Iggy grunted when I accidentally jabbed with the barrel of the gun. Awkward doesn't begin to cover it.

"Hey, what's this?" The Gasman whispered and before I could smack his hand away, he pulled on something dark and metal just under the bunk, before he went plummeting into darkness.

"Gazzy-whoa!" Iggy went tumbling right after him into a square trap door and I just had time to snatch the gun before I was pulled along by the force of them.

There was second of disorienting darknessbefore I landed on something soft and plush. I pushed myself up, shaking my head and wishing I had built in air bags, looking around at the clean white walls, cream colored carpet and glass doors all around us. We had gone from dirty, dark, damp old prison halls to ones that reminded me sickeningly of the School.

Great.

I opened my mouth to say something when ten minutes ended. The ceiling shook, plaster shaking loose onto the floor, the entire placereverberating from the force of Iggy's first bomb. And seconds later, the alarms went off, along with the sprinklers.

"Well… next time I'll program twenty minutes" He laughed, before we heard the shouts.

Even greater.

Max:

In five seconds, I was drenched through. Thank you, Iggy, I thought as we ducked, yet again out of sight from Erasers running by. They didn't wear the fake uniforms of tour guides, but the camo and heavy boots of Itex's soldiers. Angel, Nudge, Cam and I hid inside a cubicle in the white, pristine underground labs of Genesis. My nervous system was going crazy.

I have to admit, the School could really use a decorator like the one they had. I mean, wall to wallcarpeting? Come on, how much more evil scientist chic could you get? When they had passed, we piled back into the hall, Cam leading the way.

My heart was beating like crazy now, going way beyond the speed limit and my pulse was soaring higher than I ever could. Adrenaline, you know, it can do that to a girl. The further into the tangled mess of halls we got, the more I noted the door numbers, which way we turned, anything that would help us get out as quickly as possible in case something went wrong. 

"They stored it in the main chamber. I've seen it there. Come on, this way" Cam said, veering to the right. Angel clutched my hand and I wished for the fifth time that I had made her stay back on the shore, safe and out of harms way. I wished I had made them all stay safe on the beach but I'd be kind of screwed without them.

"Hey, you!" I screeched to a halt, whipping around and shoving the girls behind me in one swift move. Five erasers stood at the end of the hall, back the way we had just come, guns cocked and at the ready. Oh, joy. It probably didn't help that I could barely see through the water in my eyes.

"Hey, yourself" I smiled, hoping to throw them off guard but it didn't work. Never does, but hey, a girl can dream right? They surged forward and I met them halfway, taking down the first one in seconds. A knee to the groin here, elbow to the nose there, and I had them all down on the ground, crying and begging for mercy… no, not really, but you believed it for a second didn't you?

We ran through the white halls, avoiding erasers at all costs, trying to see through the water pouring down on us from the stupid fire sprinklers. The alarms still blared in my ears, threatening a migraine. Well, more of one than I already had, considering the events at hand.

Cam slowed to a stop at the edge of a corner and peaked around the bend. We were all breathing heavily, chest heaving for air, and my heart reverberated against my rib cage. I like that word, have you noticed- reverberated. It's a good way to sum up the jarring hecticness of my life. Anyway, I wasn't suremy heartwould ever slow down.

"Okay, the door to the lab is right around the corner. They've got three erasers on it but Jace doesn't put up much of a fight, he's more on our side than anything, and the other two… they're idiots at best" She said their names like old friends, rolling out of her mouth as if she'd known them forever which she probably did. Every kid has an Ari after all. But I bet yours doesn't fight you to the death on a daily basis.

"Right" I nodded and straightened up. I made a split second decision and turned to my girls. "I want you three to go back, got it. Cam, I'm counting on you to make sure they get out without so much as a scratch"

"But, Max! You can't go in there alone!" Nudge protested, her eyes shining with fear. I smiled at her. I didn't want to this, but what choice did I have, really? None. I couldn't risk them getting hurt no more than I could risk the fate of the world. If this all went downhill, at least I'd know they were safe.

"I can and I will, it's an order. Go and wait for us, okay? Nudge don't start. I've made up my mind and you know how useless it is trying to change it" She snapped her mouth closed and nodded. Angel stayed quiet, her eyes wide and blue. She could read the determination in my mind, I knew she could, so I just smiled at my baby and hugged her for a quick, short second.

"Now, go" I commanded and without another glance back, they vanished from sight. Was that incredibly stupid of me? Maybe, but it was for the best. Right? No time to second guess myself now. Deep breathe in and out. Here goes nothing. Or everything. They both meant the same thing at the moment.

I didn't give them time to react as I came around the corner, just ran up and knocked them down. One of them, Jace I'm guessing, just went down without a fight, and the other two… well, they were as demented as any two people can be and I almost thought that maybe the white coats forgot to give them brains. Like the scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz- without the song and dance and the possibility to be really scary and bloodthirsty.

"Thank you, gentlemen" I mumbled, grinning as onegroaned over hiskneed stomach,and kicked open the metal doors, just to come face to face with the one person in the world I hated more than Ari. This guy was number one in my Most Hated People In the World book and it is a thick book. At least 300 pages... in size 8 font. 

"Jeb?"

* * *

The Final Warning came out today! Anyone get it yet?

Oh... and review! Please! I'll give you a cookie? Cookies not your thing? Oh...well, how bout cupcakes? I can have my servant- or sister as my mom calls her- whip up a batch. Mmmmm... wait, now I really want cupcakes. Darn. I'll update soon :insert smiley: ... and heart.


	34. Chapter 34

Max:

"Come to save the day, Max?" Jeb looked at me from behind his thick rimmed glasses, his blue eyes gleaming in the fluorescent lighting. The gentle, electrical buzz of the lightbulbs was driving me crazy. 

"More like the world, actually" I said. He was flanked by at least ten erasers, all bigger, scarier, and a heck of a lot smarter than the one's outside. Once again, I was seriously doubting my decision making process because one little me against ten of those guys... well, it hardly seems fair, now does it?

"All alone? What happened to 'Fight as a Flock', Maximum?" The doors slammed shut behind me and I swallowed. My heart started hammering faster as the erasers fanned out around us. I wasn't afraid, no that's not it. I was just really, really annoyed. And okay, maybe a little afraid.

"I decided to go solo for a while" I crossed my arms across my chest, staring him straight in the eye as if I had nothing to fear. But then my eyes slid past his face and focused on the actual room. Maybe I spoke a bit too soon, as usual. Wires, tubes, needles, metal objects, restraints, and those chairs they use at the dentist. It looked like it had been ripped right out of a Frankenstein movie. The only thing missing was the big lug himself. And guess who was about to replace him if she didn't act soon?

"Oh, lying is very unbecoming, dear. We have your Flock. Or what is left of it. This could all have been avoided if you had just listened to me, Max" Jeb spoke as if he were genuinely sad, shaking his head slowly while my teeth ground down. I heard him but didn't actual _hear_ him, the blood rushing in my ears was too loud. "Itex had no further use for them. Your the one they need, not the Flock. They've been expired." 

He was lying, he had to be. It wasn't below his scum self, either. I'd be an idiot to believe him, but the look in his eyes… could he actually be telling the truth? Pieces of my heart started to shatter at what he was saying… The Flock? All of them? Iggy, Gazzy, Angel, Nudge, and… I couldn't think the last name, his was the hardest. I stared Jeb right in the eye, mine connecting with his cold blue ones, searching for any hint of a lie- but of course there was none. 

Jeb could have been one of those psychos who really believe they didn't do anything wrong, you know that kind that can beat lie-detector tests? But of all things, Jeb wasn't a liar, not really. A hideous, scum of the earth, sick, twisted, piece of trash but rarely a liar. So, what did that mean for me? For my Flock? 

It meant I still had one job to do. I could break down later, cry until I couldn't cry anymore, but right then I had a world to save even as mine crumbled. My eyes swept the lab, trying to ignore the things floating in huge vats, searching for something that would destroy so many lives.

**How could they _all_** **be gone?**

"Looking for something, Max?" Jeb asked. His suit was perfectly tailored, like a politician's, his glasses balanced on his thin nose. A nose I wanted to break or possibly jam into his brain. I hear that hurts. 

In two steps, before the erasers even saw me moving, I was right in front of me, fist drawn back and flying forward. There was a satisfying crunch as his nose broke but I couldn't smile. I wasn't sure I knew what smiling was at that moment. Jeb dropped to the ground and erasers rushed at me but anger fueled my movements. 

My fists slammed down on their ears, my feet pounded into their stomachs, and there weren't enough kicks and punches in the world to make me feel better. In fact, in made me feel worse. So much worse as images of Angel, dead, flooded my vision as tears stung my eyes. It was followed by The Gasman's face, slowly working its way through my mental photo album. For once, I wished I had never gotten my memory back to begin with... maybe then they'd still be alive- albeit living lies.

In seconds, all ten erasers were unconscious and Jeb just stared, not having had a clue as to what can of worms he had just opened. Well, he was about to find out. If little orphan Annie looked lost and alone, Jeb looked lost, alone, and pathetic. He just lacked the cute red hair and shaggy dog- though Ari could probably step in for his dear old man. 

"Max, you need to trust me. I never meant for any of this to-" I whipped around, silently seathing and pouring as much hate into my glare as possible. 

"Trust you? Hmmm... Ari trusted you and look how well he turned out. No, I'll stick to hating your guts, if that's all right" Did Jeb look genuinely sorry? Maybe, if his panic didn't seem to cover it up. It's weird, but I think he may actually have been afraid of me, that I would end his sorry life once and for all. Trust _me_, I wanted to, but I'd never stoop to his level.

_Find it, Maximum._ It? Oh... it. The big "it". The thing I was here for... the thing the Flock had been supposedly killed for. My mind was still trying to deny it as the rest of my body had yet to let it sink in. Five powerful, avian-human kids could not have been... you know, so quickly. Not without putting up one hell of a fight. If anything, at least they caused the white coats some major pain. 

"Where is it, Jeb?" I asked, turning to the old creep. For a second, I think he was almost going to deny everything but the look on my face- sort of a mix between I'll Kill You and Don't Mess With Me- made him see the light of reason.

"Not here, Max... it was scheduled for contamination today, from the surface port. Ari was supposed to supervise the release" Jeb's voice was low, remorseful, but I could see straight through his "I'm sad about it, too" act. It was almost like watching a dog pretending to be a cat. Not effective. "It is possible that it's been delayed till now"

Well, wasn't that just fantastic. My fists clenched even tighter while I tried not to think of the Flock and focus on getting to Ari before he pressed that big red button marked Doomsday. An eraser moaned by my left foot and I kicked it without blinking an eye.

"Where is he?" I asked through clenched teeth. I felt like my entire body was on fire, cheeks flaming from anger. And most of it directed towards the man in front of me. 

"In the old gallows. It's by the west port" Jeb sighed, totally defeated and I fought the urge to strangle him right then and there. He was so desperately pathetic, in his tailored suit that cost more than anything I'd ever seen in my entire life. I wanted to snap his glasses, which he slid up the bridge of his nose with one shaking finger. 

"I hate you" I said instead. Jeb flinched, as if it actually hurt him to find that out. As if he hadn't known that already.

"I know, Max…. I'm sorry" Sorry. He was sorry. Well, tell that to the Flock. Tell that to eight year old Angel who'd never even hit double digits yet. Tell that to Iggy who didn't even know what he looked like, let alone anything else. Jeb was sorry, but he was alive.

"Not good enough" Was all I said before my fist connected with his chin, snapping his head to the left. His eyes fluttered closed and whoosh. He dropped like a sack of… well like the sack of garbage he was.

I ran through the halls, praying I wouldn't get lost and that luck would be on my side, if nothing else. The carpet squished under my feet, soaked from the first round of sprinklers. The ground shook suddenly and I knew it was another of Ig's planted bombs. I swallowed the clog rising in the throat and kept running, head down, arms pumping at my sides. 

By the time I reached the huge, heavy metal door, I was panting and shaking from exertion. Or something else, like the grief I was trying desperately to hold in. Super speed hadn't even helped get me there any faster. If anything, it had sucked up the last bit of energy I had left. 

I slammed my shoulder against the door and pushed. The metal hinges creaked and groaned and Pop! Goes the door. Woah, was it _bright._ Going from underground labs to an above ground courtyard is not easy on the eyes, let me tell you. Now, on top of everything else, I had a killer headache and my vision splotched as it slowly focused and grew accustomed to the bright sunlight.

One step, two step, I was walking blind but that wasn't the really weird part. I couldn't hear a thing. It was too quiet for the launching of the Apocalypse, that was for darn sure. No loud boasting, no shoes scuffling… then my vision cleared and I could barely breathe all over again.

You know the Coliseum? That big round arena place in like Rome or whatever? Well, this was sort of reminiscent of that. Except for the no sand and no bulls, and no historical background. Everything was made of stone, like the old English streets you see in Philadelphia. And kneeling in the middle of it all? Fang. 

My eyes widened so much, I was almost wished I had a plate to catch them on if they popped out. Wasn't he… flat-lined? Didn't Jeb say?... oh, who cares what Jeb said, Fang was alive! And right there, in front of me, frowning like the non social lug he is. I almost ran over to him to laugh or cry or whatever when I saw the look in his eye. 

He was trying to tell me something, something important. His dark eyes burned with anger, frustration, and guilt. Fang tried to point with his chin slightly and I wondered why he didn't just _spit it out _but that's not his style. I had just heard the lightest footstep imaginable when two heavy, sweaty bodies landed on me. Oh, that's what he was saying. 

I twisted around, swiping my leg at their ankles and managed to knock one to the ground. Bunching my knees up to my chest, I kicked out with as much force as possible, smiling when I heard the satisfying crunch of a rib breaking. Hands wrapped around my arms, hauling me to my feet but I slammed my head back, hoping to jam his nose into his brain. Maybe it worked, maybe it didn't. Either way, his balmy hands were off me. 

"Looking for something, Maxi?" Ari sneered at me when I turned to face him. It must have been a while since our last visit because I didn't remember him being so ugly before. Or it could have been the fact that he was helping destroy the world and had used Fang against me. Yeah, that could definitely change a girl's opinion of him. 

_It was only a matter of time. Your relationship with Fang is a liability. _As if I hadn't thought of that already. I ground my teeth as Ari went on leering, fumbling with something in his jacket pocket. Clumsy idiot. 

"Yeah, actually. The closest Freaks-R-Us? I wanted to see if I could get my money back. You're sort of defective" I said. Oh, witty me. What would I do without my sense of humor? Or Ari's anger management issues.

"Sorry, no cash back" He spat and I noticed what he had pulled out of his pocket. A small glass vile, barely big enough to hold a tablespoon of medicine. It was full of some type of liquid, like melted diamond. The liquid reflected and sparkled in the sun, as if thousands of tiny nano-bytes were floating around in there… was _that_ going to destroy the world? Wow. Talk about big things in small packages. iPod could learn a thing or two from these guys.

"Oh… on sale, huh? Just not quite the latest must have item, right?" Time to get down to business, I thought, my eyes tracking the movement of Ari's hand. I was about to charge him when I realized one small problem. How the he-eck do I destroy that thing?

_Burn it. Flame destroys the bacteria contaminant. _Said the Voice and for once, it had actually come in handy. Too bad I didn't have a freaking lighter or something. 

Fang moved slightly out of the corner of my eyes, which twitched toward him, giving him away. Ari whipped around and pulled Fang back, his knuckles white around his arm. Even if Fang didn't show it, I knew that must have hurt. Badly. I cringed at my mistake. Oops? 

"Max-" Fang suddenly shouted as someone clamped down on my ankle, knocking my feet out from under me. My chin hit the floor which made my teeth click together. Whoever said the dentist is your friend, they meant it because at that moment, I would have killed for some Novocain. 

"Shut-up!" Ari yelled, slamming his fist into Fang's jaw. I noticed Fang's wings for the first time and my heart sunk. They were missing so many feathers… practically useless. His turned his head and spit out a mouthful of blood. 

Three erasers pulled me to my feet and kept tight grips on my arms. I struggled to get free but they held tight- darn they are strong. Do the white coats feed them steroids with their morning dose of insanity? 

"Hmmm… a tough choice, Max. Your boyfriend, or the world?" Ari shook the little glass vial, sending pretty little rainbows in the light. At the same time, his claws clamped around Fang's throat, cutting the skin just slightly. Oh, no. 

"I choose both, actually. Thanks for the offer though" Somehow, I managed to speak with one hand around my throat, squeezing ever so freakishly tight. 

"I wasn't giving you a choice…."His voice was flat as a bottle of soda left open all day. "Actually, now that I think of it, maybe I'll kill Loverboy and half the planet too. Two birds with one stone, so to speak" 

As he spoke, Ari dragged on clawed hand across Fang's chest, tearing his shirt open and scraping him. He tried not to flinch, his eyes flickering just slightly, the way they always do when he's in pain. My heart started hammering as I realized Ari was serious…. First my entire Flock was gone, then Fang was alive and now? Ari was going to take him away again… right in front of me. 

"I hope you said your goodbye's already" He said and he pulled out a jet black gun, shining like oil. For good measure- and to make it worse for both of us- he punched Fang again. Before he could recover, Ari slammed his heel into Fang's rib, never giving him a chance to try to fight back. Turns out the little schizo had learned a few things over the past two years... like mortal combat and murder. 

And I-with no training what so ever- had to stop him... somehow. 


	35. Chapter 35

OH MY GOD! I thought this uploaded on Sunday, stupid laptop- it has a freaking MIND OF ITS OWN, I swear. I am really sorry this took sooo friggin long to get up for you all. Haha, and here I thought it was up and running, oblivious to the absolute lack of chapter. Yikes, sorrrrrry again. Hopefully it worked this time.

Max:

"Ari… you don't have to do this" There I go, trying to talk my way out of sticky situations. This was beyond sticky though, this was permanent stain, super glued to your hand. And I had a bad feeling my easy charm and way with words wasn't going to get us out of this one.

"You can't stop me" Ari is officially insane, for the record books. He looked insane, even through those infuriating things called tears that were building up in my eyes, I could see that. He was only nine years old too, poor little guy. Then he pulled out the gun and his age didn't matter. I was going to kill him if he even so much as thought about pulling that trigger.

About twenty erasers, all leering and grinning, had gathered around to see the show. The starred event on the Social Events Calendar. "Ari vs. Max Ride! Be there or be square!" My arms were pinned behind my back by some pretty rough erasers, who held on so tightly it felt like my bones were grinding together. Didn't they know how to treat a lady?

"You know how I love this playful banter, Ari, but I'm going to have to cut it short" I said through clenched teeth. Before those thickheads holding me could even think to think about what was happening, I had dropped to ground, dragging all my weight down and them with it. We landed in a jumbled heap of limbs but luckily, my IQ is a bit higher than -5.

In seconds, while they were still trying to figure out what had just happened, I was kneeing Ari in the groin, bringing my fist up as his head went down. Wimp. Fang was on his feet, a little shaky, but standing. All macho and stoic even if he was most likely suffering some major blood loss. Ari could learn a thing to from that guy.

"Why were you just sitting there?" I asked him when what I really wanted to do was throw myself at Fang. My heart was still hammering from the sight of Ari with the gun pointed at his head, the look in Fang's eyes as he looked at me. It hit me then what could have just happened, like flying into a brick wall and as my mind tried to wrap the fact that he had almost just died, I struggled to get my lungs working again.

"They would have hurt you if I did anything" Said Fang, his voice raspy and hoarse. The erasers started to surge forward, looking none too happy might I add. Back to back we faced them and for a split second, my hand wrapped around his and then our little moment was over.

"Underestimating me?"  
"Overestimating them"

And then all my energy was poured into not dying- again.

Iggy:

Well, this is exceedingly not good, I thought as I kicked the bars of what I would say is a size medium dog crate. Your average terrier size. Great.

"Gazzy?" I could hear him breathing, as creepy as that sounds. Just… to the left and up from me. At the sound of my voice, he stirred, his clothes rustled, and I heard him do the same thing I had just done. Kick the crate.

"What?" He asked, dejected again. Poor kid.

"Do you have your lock pick kit?" I knew the answer before I even asked the question, but it was worth a shot. Maybe he had some new power for hiding metal objects or something… or maybe all those close spaces were making me delusion as well as blind.

"No. They took it" The Gasman sighed. Boy, did I know the feeling. At least he could see where the heck we were, I was left totally in the dark. Literally. I trailed my fingers across the lock and chain they had used. You'd think that, for a high tech scientific company, they'd have something a bit more advanced than your basic padlock, right? Like one of those laser identification things. Man, I would kill to get my hands on one of those. Just goes to show that maybe the smartest people in the world can be the dumbest.

"Well, this su-" Before I could finish my statement of the obvious, the whole ground shook. I grinned at the awesomeness of my bomb building skills. Every ten minutes or so another one went off, each one stronger than the one before it. Too bad there were only about four left. Forty minutes of diversions before every eraser went after Max, oh joy.

For the next five minutes, we sort of just sat there, tapping our toes and whistling show tunes… kidding. But there's not much else to do when you're locked up in a crate the size of your poodle. After a few minutes, the Gasman was out cold, snoring away. That kid can sleep through anything, anywhere at anytime. I was just thinking about the Flock, and how badly the side of my head hurt- definitely gonna have a bruise- when I heard the whispering. Right outside the door.

"Hey! Can you hear me?" I called, hoping it wasn't one of the bad guys. Calling for help never really goes over too well with those guys for some reason. But that one voice… kind of non-stop, sounded a lot like…

The door clicked open, three pairs of shoes scuffled across the floor and I knew who it was. I sighed and stuck my hand through the bars, waving them over.

"Iggy?!" Nudge shrieked and ran to grab my hand. Yeah, definitely Nudge. The swirl of her fingerprints easily told me it was her. But how did she get here? Her big mouth was bound to draw some attention at some point.

"Who's with you?" I asked, hoping it was Max. Fang had been taken away a while ago, to who knows where though I definitely did not want to find out any time soon. Another hand was placed on my arm and my heart sped up a little bit in that annoying it had been doing lately.

"Me and Angel" said Cam and if I wasn't in a cage, I would have smiled, as lame as that sounds. I would have smiled and probably not known what to say without making myself look like a total idiot. Maybe made some weird, awkward hand motions.

"Ugh… you guys can kiss and make up later. Can we just_ get out of here_?" Note to self: smack Gazzy upside the head at a later time. But I had to agree, getting out of the cage was probably the number one best thing to do at that moment.

Oh, that and you know, not getting caught again.

Max:

Okay, twenty on two? Not fair game. Especially not when one of the two looked like he was about to pass out from exhaustion. Fang was paler than pale, all the blood had drained from his face but he just kept on fighting, even watching my back from time to time. Stupid, stupid, stupid… but I love him that much more for it.

I threw my shoulder into an eraser's chest, flipping him over my back and onto his head. Ouch, that had to hurt. No time to ponder the possible damage though, I whipped around just in time to see Fang take a kick to the stomach and drop to his knees. My heart started going a thousand miles an hour and before the eraser who had kicked him could get another shot in, I tapped into that handy dandy super speed and blocked him, catching his fist in my open palm.

"Hmmm… Picking on the injured guy. Nice" I said and with a sharp twist, broke his wrist. He howled, face wrenching in pain with a look that was almost better than his regular expression. I grabbed Fang's hand and hauled him to his feet, supporting most of his weight. I'd just like to say, boy is _heavy_. And losing consciousness.

"Come on, Fang… don't drop on me now" I ran around the group of confused erasers, almost laughing at the lost looks on their faces. Sometimes, I wonder… I really do. Were the created to be so moronic, or was it a natural gene trait? While my mind was focused on, let's face it, not so important matters something happened… something really not good.

I hit a wall. Not the metaphorical kind either, but not quite… a visible one? Sure, laugh at the crazy winged girl, but it was like wham! No more running for Max. And hitting a wall- albeit an invisible one- at almost 150 miles per hour is not pleasant, let me tell you.

"Gotcha" Ari sneered, leaning down over me. In that instant, I could easily imagine a target sign on Ari's face so I bunched my legs and kicked out with as much force as possible, only to almost cry out in pain. My eyes watered and I had to bite my lip to keep myself from screaming a stream of profanities.

"Oh. My. God!" I shouted instead. It felt like both of my ankles were broken and this is the point where the record screeches to a halt. Everyone whips around, stops what they're doing, and stares. Turns out that "wall" I had hit was still there, and I'd just hit it twice. Ugh…

"Careful, Max… I want you in tact when I kill you" said Ari in the most contradictory term of the century. His green eyes sparkled and I wished I had some hydrochloric acid to pour on them.

"Bite me, Ari" Huh, why does this all seem familiar? Maybe because it's happened about four billion times. Me and Ari, going at it, dog-eat-dog style. I was suddenly so sick of it. So tired of Ari's cocky grin and superimposed fangs. I stood and Fang followed, standing on his own but barely. Adrenaline started pumping through me, like a million hummingbirds flying around in my chest.

_This is it, Max._ I could not have agreed with the Voice more. Staring Ari down, my hands balled into fists, I knew that by the end of the day, only one of us would be walking away. And it was so not going to be Ari, no matter what I had to do. My wings snapped open, all fourteen feet of 'em, a weird shiver ran through my entire body.

"-enjoy this that much more" The creep was saying, like a freaking circus ring master, putting on a show for his audience. He was looking at me, but he was speaking for everyone. The Erasers were practically bouncing in anticipation as if someone was dangling a bone in front of their faces.

"It's over, Ari" I said, cutting of his tirade that sounded suspiciously like a monologue from the movie Troy. A murmur ran through the crowd gathered around, like What's that? She's actually not putting up with his crap?

"What?" Ari asked, his jaw clenched tight. In his hand was that Vial, still sparkling in the sunlight. Which meant I had two tasks- whip Ari's butt and destroy that thing. Right, no problemo.

"I said, it's over. Let's end this whole thing right now, because I have to say, it is really getting old" Just then, something weird happened. Or weirder than usual I mean. This feeling started building from the feet and slowly working its way up through my entire body. All this energy I didn't know I had that I guess was bottled up just got greater and greater until I didn't know what I might do next. Was I shaking? I couldn't say, but something was happening to me. I felt the energizer bunny on speed.

"You don't get to say when it's over, I do!" I half expected him to stomp his left foot and throw a tantrum. Instead, he morphed, right in front of my eyes. Ugh, not the prettiest sight, but it was over in seconds, leaving an ugly, slobbery wolf-man thing in front of me.

"Max-" Fang tried to say something, but I shook him off. My heart was really pounding now, reverberating against my rib cage so hard it almost hurt. Fang stepped towards me and put a hand on my arm but pulled it back, fast. "Max, you-"

"What?!" I snapped, eyes glued to Ari.

"You're… glowing" He whispered and that's all it took. One glance down at my hand in surprise- what do you know? I really was glowing, a sort of slight shimmer all across my skin- and Ari pounced.

His claws dug right into my shoulders, throwing me back as he flew through the air and finally pinning me to the ground. Or… the claws would have, if they didn't ricochet off of me. Ari stared down at me with eyes as wide as my own. He moved to jab my arm with retractable weapons, but instead of the pain I was expecting, they just sort of... slided away. Like oil in water. So, I was glowing slightly and his claws just glided off my skin. On a cool scale, it was a definite million.

With a growl, Ari drew back his claws and slammed one down, right by my face, then drew back and did the same thing, trying and trying again to get me. Thank you super speed, you saved my life and my good looks. Slight movements I made kept him from getting me, much to his annoyance and my immense gratitude.

"Aw, big bad wolf can't get me" I grinned, which probably was not the most mature thing to do but hey, I was little giddy at my new power. My knee slammed up right where the money is and he yelped, frozen until I threw him off me.

When I jumped up and whipped around, he was gone, no crumpled heap of disaster. The erasers had all backed away- this was Ari's fight after all. I hadn't even had a chance to scan the faces of the erasers around me when I heard that slight cough, a throat being cleared. Slowly, oh so slowly, I turned and my heart sunk. When I looked at my hand, the glow was starting to fade away. Perfect.

"That's a neat trick, Max. Want to see mine?" Every ounce of warmth in my body completely faded away at the sight of Fang, Ari's clawed hands wrapped around his throat. He held so tightly blood trickled down Fang's neck. When he tried to move, Ari just squeezed tighter, the slightest movement threatening to dig into his jugular.

"Let him go" I said, realizing that we were right back where we had started. At least my voice was still steady. Not as shaky as I felt. That was a plus… Right?

"No"

"Let. Him. Go" But that grin- I could tell what Ari was thinking. In seconds, he could rip Fang apart, even on his worst day, and there was nothing I could do about it. If I moved, he'd killed him, if I didn't he'd kill him. Sucks to be me, huh?

"You might have a new power, but Fang doesn't, does he? Fang doesn't have any powers" Ari's other hand raked down Fang's arm and he winced slightly. He didn't make a sound though and his eyes never looked away from mine, steady and dark as always. Why did I not like what I saw in them? I was debating on whether or not to just charge them, if I'd be fast enough to free Fang before Ari sliced away when something I can only call a bizarre type of miracle happened...

"Yo, freaks!" Someone shouted. All eyes snapped up to the sky where Iggy flew, like the avenging angel, the Flock right behind him. And then everything happened really, really fast.

Fang swiped his legs around, knocking Ari off his feet just as something small, cold, and metal landed on his chest. Fang snatched the vial from Ari's slackened fingers and bolted towards me, where I stood, stunned. Wasn't he dead? I was then being pulled by those warm, gentle hands towards a stone wall, then tugged down and wrapped in arms I was sure five seconds ago I would never feel again.

And then everything went BOOM!

* * *

What is it with me and cliffhangers? God, it's a habit I have to kick. Anyway, this story will be done by like... saturday. If my laptop works like it's supposed to, grrrrrr... one maybe two chapters left. Most likely one though. Just a heads up. Buhbyeeeee.


	36. Chapter 36

Max:

"Max?" Hey, I knew that voice, I thought fuzzily. My head felt like it had been compounded by a garbage truck. It was so hard to breathe I could have been smoking since I was born. But I wanted that voice to say my name just one more time…

"Wake up, Max. Stop being so dramatic" Well, that was good enough, I guess.

The steady thump, thump of my heart wasn't as steady as it should have been. No, it was more like a kid on a sugar fix pounding on a drum set. I wrinkled my nose as the smell of burnt… _something_, smoke and ash drifted over to me and got stuck in my lungs, choking me.

"Hey! She's alive!" Was that The Gasman? Figures he would be the one to say something like that. I'm pretty sure his life mission is to state the obvious with as much enthusiasm as humanly possible.

"Yeah, and you're way too loud. Shut it" I grumbled, coughing on the thick air. I pushed my self up into a somewhat upright position, blinking in the freakishly bright sunlight. Never have I wanted sunglasses more in my entire lifetime and I probably would have killed for some shade. Would it kill these people to plant some freaking _trees?_

Hmm… there was something important I should be remembering. Was it that paper due next Wednesday? No, shoot, that was the fake person the School had implanted in my brain. So what was it I, Maximum Ride, had to remember? Why did my head feel like Jell-O? Oh… right. The end of the world. Thaaaaat.

I jumped to my feet, ignoring the dizzy wave that washed over me, and crouched, ready to fight. But blinked instead. A city of ash and rubble lay all around me, a charred star in the dead center of it all. I'd learned enough from Iggy to know at least that that was where the bomb had gone off. Iggy… I whipped around, remembering again, and there they were. My Flock, still kicking, despite what Jeb had said. My heart gave a weirdly giddy little leap at the sight of them.

"You're alive" I said, cringing as I realized that maybe a piece of my life mission was the same as Gazzy's. Birds of the same feather, as they say.

"Is that a bad thing?" Ig asked and by way of an answer I just ran over and hugged him- quickly. He may have saved my life but that did not mean I was handing out free hugs and mushy emotions. Gazzy cleared his throat so I let go of his best friend and gave him his turn, relishing in the brief moment of The Gasman being a little kid again. Ah, how I miss those days. When he wasn't trying to be all tuff and macho… and not obsessed with fire.

"Me, next!" Angel skipped over and wedged herself between me and her brother, holding so tightly I wasn't sure if I'd ever be able to breathe again. But I stroked my baby's hair and planted a kiss on her head. I hugged Nudge, as quickly as I had the other's but grinned realizing that she had never felt like more of a sister than she had at that exact moment. When, you know, I knew she wasn't as dead as they had said she was.

There was not an eraser in sight. One of those rare occasions worth celebrating in my world. Oddly, though, I'm pretty sure a crumbling island that had created an experiment to destroy most of the world's population isn't quite the place to host the biggest gala of the decade. Especially not with all the nasty remains and reminders of a day I would gladly prefer not to repeat. I shuddered at the sight of a smoking boot not ten feet away… and thought of Ari. That couldn't be all that was left of him, could it?

"Forgetting someone?" said that voice again, the one that had called me dramatic, and that sent nice little shivers up my spine. Fang wasn't smiling- would you expect anything less?- and he looked like a living version of plum pudding, but his eyes were the lightest I'd ever seen them, shining almost as brightly as the sun. Forget the sugar rush, the kid pounding on my heart now was definitely on something a bit stronger than candy.

Queue that dramatic Lifetime special music, the slow motion running on the beach- not that I'd _ever_ do that, cough, cough- and you've got what was playing in my head at that moment as I walked up to Fang and threw my arms around his neck. I don't think I'd have held on tighter even if I was dangling from the Empire State building- without wings.

"Ow" He muttered, wincing as his arms wound around my waist. What was that? Fang, admitting to pain? Well, if Pluto not being a planet wasn't enough of a shock, Fang saying "ow" definitely was.

"I'm sorry" I said- another shock among various shocks- and tried to pull away but he was having none of that. Instead, right there in front of the Flock- and Cam, I noticed- he pulled back just enough to kiss me. And all thoughts of everything completely fled my mind. It was like the moment his lips touched mine, my brain short circuited and bam- What's my name again?

Someone coughed, another person cleared their throat and we flew apart- literally, my wings snapped open and everything. I think it's safe to say I blushed, yes? I probably looked like a circus clown with big red splotches on my cheeks.

"I knew it" The Gasman said accusingly, but he was smiling, which is a good sign. Right?

"Hate to burst this reunion bubble of yours, but I think we should go now" Said Cam. Normally I would have yelled about me being the Flock leader, blah, blah, blah, but I decided that since it probably would have taken me another ten minutes or so to realize that erasers were most likely on their way, I decided to let it go.

_Be the bigger man, Maximum.  
_**Hmm… that might work- if I was a man. **

"You heard the girl. U and A" Wow, thirty minutes ago I had been sure I would never been getting off that island, positive that we would all meet certain disaster, and now I was telling my entire Flock- injured but alive- to hit the sky. How much better could my life get?

Wings whooshed open, feet skidded on the gravel and rubble, and one by one, we launched into the sky- this time with Iggy carrying Cam. Which was just _fine_ with me, let me tell you. We were less than 50 miles away, the shore looming closer, when a shout- followed by a lot of other shouts- made us slow and turn, watching as reinforcements showed up- ten minutes too late. I could just picture Donald Trump saying "You're fired"- weird hand motion and everything.

"Holy crap!" I said as realization hit me like a brick wall. Ooh, maybe not the best word choice, I thought, rolling my ankles with a wince. "What about-"

"Got it" Fang reached into his pocket and low and behold, presented that tiny Vial, still glittering in the red-ish, sunset light. I could have kissed him all over again.

"So that means…" We all looked at each other, eyes wide and hearts racing, as slowly the grins broke out across our bruised faces. "We did it!" And in comes the chanting, courtesy of the Gasman.

When I asked how much better my life could get a few paragraphs up, well it just did. The world was saved, so it seems. Thanks to who? Not your tax dollars- that goes to the President's new car- but yours truly and her marry band of mutants. If you see us around, you owe us at least lunch for all our trouble. Don't worry, McDonalds holds up just fine for us- and yes, we would like fries with that.

The sounds of Erasers fighting, white coats trying to get things under order, and something else, hidden just underneath all of that- a sad sort of silence- slowly dimmed as the coastline grew from a tiny strip in the distance to a beach, waves crashing in the sand. Ah, land. I don't think I've ever been happier to see it. I'd kiss the ground if that wasn't utterly disgusting.

Fang glided up next to me, his wings lightly brushing mine, and he did the craziest thing. He smiled. For a second, I forgot to flap and dropped a few feet before righting myself with as much dignity as possible. Fang just smiled some more, proving that it wasn't an illusion. My tiny heart couldn't take it!

"What are you smiling at?" I asked with narrowed eyes. It's not often Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome smiles like that… and to be honest, if it wasn't completely breath taking, it might have been creepy.

"… Nothing" He said after a pause, but I knew why he was smiling. I knew very well, and I blushed because of it. Darn it! Why does he bring out the girly tendencies in me? It's so… distracting.

"Hey, Max" Oh, no. Not Nudge, not now. I had almost just died and already with the ranting. Didn't I deserve a little leeway time? But like the good leader I am, I smiled at the fourteen year old and was surprised to find that was as genuine as anything.

"Yes, Nudge?"

"Does this mean we can go to Disney World now?" She asked and just like that, the ship went down. Celine Dion starts singing and Rose tells Jack not to let go. The Flock stared, waiting and waiting to hear my reply.

Should I have said no? Yes. Would I have said no? Normally, but something weird came over me, a feeling of rebellion and adrenaline- the need to do what I wanted for the fun of it and not for necessity. After all, I think saving the world merits a little fun, don't you? Especially for kids who barely knew what fun meant.

"I think we can fit that in"

Boy, did I feel like I had just won the super bowl. Except, instead of winning a game, I saved the world. Kind of puts things into perspective doesn't it? And in comes the chanting again… loud and happy and clear. My heart was soaring, happier than it had been in a long, long time. Finally, it was over. Ari was gone and the world was a-okay! For a while at least, we could live the way we wanted to. And boy, did we deserve it.

Not to sound cliché or anything, which I sometimes manage to do anyway, but we turned our backs on Genesis- on Ari and Jeb. As a Flock- or a family- we spread our wings and flew off into the sunset, leaving behind a battle we almost didn't make it out of. The crowd goes wild, streamers fly, fans rush the field and a reporter runs up to me.

"_What are you going to do now, Max?"  
_I'm going to Disney World.

* * *

I'll post the last chapter either later today or tomorrow. Thanks for reviewing!


	37. Epilogue

Finally! Phew, bad case of writers block, sorry. THANK YOU to anyone who had anything to do with this- reviewing and stuff like that. I'm glad you liked it.

Epilogue:

Jeb paced the interior of his office. The oak wood floorboards creaked under his step, his glasses slid down the bridge of his nose. With a sigh, he pushed them back up and paused with on foot hovering in the air, casting his blue eyes around the room. The metal desk, shining in the sunlight coming through the window, the bare walls and too full bookcase. Framed awards were the only color in his den, the only sign of life and it would stay that way.

He'd expected them to succeed. Had been planning on it in fact, but there were other losses to take into account. Losses no one had thought to consider. Jeb's fingers curled into fists as he tried to push away emotions he'd only felt when it was too late. Ari had been his son, but not until he was already dead.

There was one image that replayed itself in his mind, like a broken record nobody could stop, flashing every time he blinked. The look in Max's eyes- before she'd punched him- had told him everything he needed to know. So much rage and sadness- guilt, fury, and strength. She'd said everything without saying a word. That the experiment was successful- they were successful.

If a bunch of children were capable of understanding the meaning of family and loss better than Jeb ever could, what did that say about him? About the whitecoats and Itex's agents? For children barely past adolescence as a whole, they could teach them all a thing or two.

Which meant that they were successful. The Flock was the future, as intended and as would have been the case, if they hadn't interfered with the plans. Their ability to defeat an entire island of Erasers, venture into Itex's headquarters and leave alive was just more proof of their immediate success as a unit.

_Not a unit, a family_. Jeb realized with a shock.

Maybe it was a sign to pack away their ambitions- the whitecoats that is- and leave the world as it should be. Maybe it was just a way of forcing them into more creative and indestructible means to better ensure that future plans went smoothly. Either way, Jeb knew what the outcome of it would be and his shoulders sagged as he accepted it.

They should have given it up, but ambition had corrupted them all. And nothing would stand in their way.

Max:

After being raised in cages, tested, experimented on, escaping, surviving, and the works of bird kid life, it only made sense that we deserved a little fun now and then. Especially now after our latest endeavor.

Disney World, in all its glory, had been great- for the first ten minutes- before the paranoia set so deep in my bones started to kick in like aspirin and those happy little Eskimos singing It's a Small World really started to get on my nerves. Not to mention all those creepy mascots. But that didn't mean we couldn't take advantage of the parks nightlife.

"You know, these Robertsons had it made" The Gasman said, sitting cross legged in that fake tree house that could actually have housed twelve people. For the night though, it was just us seven. The Flock plus Cam.

"It's the Robinsons, nimrod" Ig threw a cotton candy stick at him and rolled his sightless eyes.

I had to agree with the Gasman though. For people stranded on an island, they sure had style. They even had ink, though I'm not totally sure who they could be writing to on a deserted island. Maybe they wrote to themselves and got all happy when they received their own letters. It's the small pleasures in life right?

In two weeks there hadn't been a single attack, not even a sighting. The morning after we'd flown away from Genesis- and destroyed the vial- we'd flown as far and as fast as possible, putting as much distance between us and them as we could. And yet, 14 days later, they still hadn't shown up. Weird, huh? Not that I'm complaining.

For the first time in a long time, I didn't feel like I had the weight of the universe resting on my winged shoulders. I couldn't feel the hot breath of erasers breathing down my back, metaphorically speaking. It was like standing on a cliff, arms spread wide, with my eyes closed, just waiting for someone to push me over and never having it come. Relief doesn't begin to cover it.

"Max?" I blinked and automatically my eyes connected with Fang's. He leaned back in a hammock, foot swinging over the edge, his arms pinned behind his head in the complete picture of relaxation. Never thought you'd see those two words used in the same description, right? Fang and relaxation. Like train wreck and good.

"Mhmm?" He raised an eyebrow and I nodded, brushing off my jeans as I stood and headed for the door. The sign next to it said no loitering or littering. The Flock lounged around like they owned the place, candy wrappers and soda cans littering the floor. Oops. I hoped they had a maid service.

Being the leader means a few things- protecting the Flock, caring for the Flock, loving them, and most importantly making sure the kids were happy. It's a tough job, but someone has to do it… maybe I should write a book. I'll call it "Maximum Ride's maximum ways to lead". Oh, yeah, catchy. And judging by the looks on my Flock's faces I'd say I do a pretty good job. Add the saving the world to that and I'm top notch.

"What's up?" I asked my second in command once we were out of earshot. Not only did I not want to the kids to hear us, but things could get awkward. Wink, wink.

Fang turned to face me, his face close to mine, and he snapped his wings open. My breath caught in my throat at how amazing they are, dark and sleek. Perfect, like Fang himself. I'm almost positive that the speeding of my heart will never stop- not as long as Fang's around to cause it.

"Come fly with me?" He asked.

"Have you been listening to Frank Sinatra again?" Fang just rolled his eyes and took off, no running start, no nothing. Just a few powerful down strokes and tada! Airborne. His wings blended into the night sky, carrying him further and further up- and away from me. Which I, of course, could not let happen.

"Boys" I grumbled before jogging a few steps and whoosh. My wings snapped open, glinting in whatever light was out there. It was easier to take off with my updated wings, catching up to Fang was cake and instead of gliding, I sliced through the air- like a knife through butter.

We flew through Disney World, ducking through loops in roller coasters, watching our reflections in the windows of the stores, dodging the animals on the Merry Go Round. We even passed a fake Tinker Bell, all the way on top of that castle every little girl dreams of living in. For the night, Disney World was our world, our private ghost town, and we did what we wanted with it.

Eventually, we wound up in the teacups, breathing as if deprived of oxygen. Fang spun us lazily with one hand, the other curled in mine. Hey, for kids who have lead pretty miserable lives you can't say we don't know how to fun. If you could own Disney World for a night, what would you do?

"Do you think it's over?" I asked out of the blue. It had been nagging me all night, all week actually so I just had to ask. The moon made everything glow a creepy, unreal grey, as if we really were in some ghost town and apparitions of Mickey would start parading down Main Street. I could already hear that annoying song, you know from that show? M-I-C-K-E-Y... m-o-u-s-e?

"No. I think it's just starting" said Fang, already knowing what I meant without me having to say a word. Annoying? Sometimes, but when not when it counts. Like when I really don't want to say something true out loud, fearing it would only make it truer…. If that makes any sense what so ever.

"That's what I was afraid of" Suddenly, Mickey Mouse's ghost wasn't so bad anymore. A giant rodent spirit I could handle, my entire life's struggles being only the beginning of some greater battle made my skin crawl.

Fang slipped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me close and tight as if only that would make everything go away. Actually, it sort of did, but that could only last so long. Soon, I didn't how soon, erasers would start coming again, whitecoats would be waiting- again- with needles and sicker, more twisted tests and soon, the Flock would have bigger problems than a clumsy wolf-man and a needle. That much I knew for sure.

"Max? Afraid? Did hell freeze over?" He was trying to make me laugh but it was so not working. Worry and anxiety had already set in and there was no going from that point. Take it from me. I am the master of worry and anxiety.

We were still spinning, as were my thoughts, and it was almost making me dizzy. Please, I begged, please do not let me upchuck all that cotton candy I ate today. I'll never eat soft, melt in your mouth pink fluffy stuff again. Hmm… when I put it that way...

"Everyone gets scared sometimes. You're not the only one" I felt like asking what his biggest fear was, but the decided I might feel weird if it turned out to be something embarrassing- like a fear of Care Bears. That green one can be mighty frightening. Somehow though, I doubt Fang's greatest fear is a plush toy.

I was just leaning closer, inching my way really, like in those annoying movies where the two people get _that_ close, when a dog barked, but not just any bark. This bark had authority. We stopped spinning- which made my brain rotate once in my head- and froze. A flashlight flicked on and beamed right on us, the guard's body just a chubby shadow.

"Stay where you are!" he shouted. As if. One glance at each other and we bolted, the dog went crazy and the guard starting shouting some more- and a few words unprintable for younger audiences at that.

We're masters of escape, like the Houdinis of the art. The only problem? Fang went one way and I went the other. As soon as I'd cleared the Teacup dome, I shot into the air, glancing down just once to laugh at the floored face of the guard, his flashlight swinging in his limp hand.

I couldn't see Fang anywhere, for once cursing his dark wings, so I flew to the highest point around, our prearranged meeting place if something went wrong- the Castle- to wait for him. Tink whizzed by again and I felt the sudden urge to scribble a mustache on her perfect, plastic face but you know me- petty crime just isn't right.

The lights were off at the Robinson Treehouse, the Flock probably sound asleep. Lights from the nearest city sparkled in the distance and that freaking dog was still going at it. There wasn't a cloud in sight, the moon was full and there was hardly any wind at all, just a gentle breeze on my arms… perfect. I wonder what he's gonna tell his guard friends? I wonder how long he'll still have his job after that.

Wings fluttered, feet skidded and I barely had time to process Fang's face when he kept up the momentum of landing and jogged over to me, threw his arms around my waist and kissed me. A shadow come to life.

Remember when I said it felt like standing on the edge of a cliff with my arms spread and eyes closed, well, standing on the top of Magic Castle or whatever cute name it's called, kissing Fang felt just like that. Only better and without the waiting for someone to push me feeling.

"Whatever happens next, I've got you" He said, pulling away. "You know that, right? The Flock can handle anything they throw at us, even the world, apparently. So, you can be afraid, Max, but you don't ever have to be"

Not exactly the greatest and most eloquent words ever spoken, but just the same, I instantly felt better. I felt… ready, if that doesn't sound too weird. Ready to face what the School and Itex hurtled at us next because I knew that no matter what, I wouldn't be alone. I've never been alone and because of the Flock, I've made it this far. Fang kissed me again, lightly and my eyes fluttered closed.

So, all I have left to say is bring it on world. 'Cause we're ready for you.

* * *

Well... aviator301 says you guys would probably like a sequel. It's your call. To continue or not to continue? You tell me. Thanks again to everyone. I could say that alot more but it would just get annoying, so. Anyway, bye!!


End file.
